The best kind of love
by Rachelmasonfan25
Summary: Shows how different Rachel's life would have been if she was a mother as well as a teacher.
1. Chapter 1

**I've decided to start a new story. It's about Rachel and her two children, Lauren (13) and Molly (7) and also Rachel's boyfriend's children, Ella (11) and Daisy (5).**

It was a Saturday morning and Rachel's house was in absolute chaos.

The last few weeks had been hard to say the least, and even though things were starting to calm down again now Rachel was still faced with moving all of Ella and Daisy's stuff in, not to mention the fact that Lauren had decided she wanted to change rooms too.

Rachel had been with Dave for about three years and things were going really well. It was the day before that Dave, Ella and Daisy were meant to be moving in with Rachel, Lauren and Molly.

Whilst Dave was on his way home from work on the Friday night, however, he was involved in a serious car accident and died a few hours later.

Rachel and the girls were so upset to start with but they were slowly coming to term with what had happened.

Dave, Ella and Daisy had been living with Dave's parents but they weren't well enough to have the responsibility of two girls living with them temporarily meaning that arrangements had been made for Rachel to become their legal guardian.

Rachel loved the girls to bits, they felt like her children anyway, however she knew how difficult it was going to be bringing up four girls on her own.

Daisy was in her room with Rachel while they unpacked all of her stuff.

Rachel had just finished hanging up all of Daisy's clothes in the wardrobe when she turned around and saw Daisy sat on the bed crying.

She'd been taking some of her stuff out of a box when she found her Minnie Mouse teddy that Dave had bought her when they all went to Disneyland last year. It made her think of her Dad and how much she missed him.

Daisy was clutching the bear against her chest when Rachel came over and picked her up and put her on her knee.

"What's wrong sweetheart?" Rachel asked gently

Daisy was just about to tell Rachel what was wrong when she saw Molly walk in so she stopped. She buried her head into Rachel's chest as she didn't want Molly to see her crying.

"Mum are we having lunch soon I'm really hungry?"

"Yeah I'll come down and make some sandwiches in a minute, I'm just having a little cuddle with Daisy first"

Molly walked into the room and started looking through some of Daisy's stuff.

"Can you just give us a minute love, go and ask Lauren and Ella what they want in their sandwiches" Rachel said knowing Daisy wouldn't want Molly there when she was feeling upset

"Okay" Molly said before walking back out

Rachel then turned her attention back to Daisy and tucked her hair behind her ear.

"Now then are you going to tell me what's made you upset?"

"I just miss Daddy" Daisy cried

"I know, so do I"

Rachel looked at the Minnie Mouse that Daisy was holding, she could remember how happy Daisy had been when Dave had walked into their hotel room with it.

"Do you remember when Daddy bought you Minnie Mouse when we were in Disneyland and you insisted on taking it around the park with us the next day but then you lost it?"

Daisy nodded her head and smiled.

"You said we wouldn't find her but then when we went back to where we had our lunch the waiter had kept her safe for me"

"Yep I'm very glad we found her"

"Me too"

Rachel sat there stroking Daisy's hair for a few more minutes until she seemed a bit happier.

"Shall we go down and get some lunch and then we can finish your room after?" Rachel asked and Daisy nodded

They didn't have too much more to do now which Rachel was pleased about because she was starting to feel quite worn out.

Daisy went downstairs with Daisy. When they got into the kitchen she saw Molly was already in there starting to get the stuff out for lunch.

"Thanks love" Rachel said smiling "Did you ask Ella and Lauren what they wanted in their sandwich?"

"Lauren wants cheese and Ella wants ham"

"Okay and what do you want?"

"Please could I have ham"

"Yep, Daisy?"

"Could I have ham too please?"

"Coming right up"

Rachel made everyone their sandwiches which took quite a long time because there was so many to make.

When they were ready she got Ella and Lauren down too and then they sat at the kitchen table to eat their sandwiches.

"Please can I have something else to eat Mum?" Molly asked after she'd finished her sandwich

"Yeah help yourself to a piece of fruit"

"Can't I have something chocolatey?"

"You can if you have some fruit first"

Molly sighed before getting an apple out of the fruit bowl.

"Eddie's coming over after lunch to help me build Ella's wardrobe"

Rachel had ordered the stuff for Ella to have a built in wardrobe from Ikea because she said she was happy with how Lauren had it decorated so Rachel wanted to do something for her to make her room a bit nicer.

"Okay what time's he coming?"

"I think he said he'd be over at about 2"

After lunch Rachel went back upstairs and finished sorting out Daisy's room before going into Ella's.

Ella was watching TV in the lounge with Lauren and Molly when the doorbell rang.

Ella went and answered the door and saw Eddie stood there. When she looked down she he had a little boy with him.

"Hi Ella, I've brought Michael with me"

"Hi Michael" Ella said smiling

"Hi" Michael said shyly standing slightly behind his Dad

Eddie and Michael came in so Ella closed the door behind them.

"Rach Eddie's here"

"Okay I'm in your bedroom"

Eddie and Michael took their shoes off before following Ella up to her bedroom.

"Excuse the mess" Rachel said when she saw Eddie walk in

She then saw Michael follow him in

"Oh hi Michael I didn't realise you were coming"

"Sorry Allison dropped him round at the last minute, I was just leaving when you turned up wasn't I little man?" Eddie said and Michael nodded his head

"That's okay, do you want to go downstairs with Ella Michael and she'll get you a drink"

"Okay"

Ella took hold of Michael's hand before taking him downstairs.

"Thanks for doing this Eddie" Rachel said smiling

"That's alright, you know I'm more than happy to help"

Eddie had been such a great support for Rachel since Dave's death which Rachel was extremely grateful for.

Rachel and Eddie were just starting to look through the instructions when Molly came running in.

"Mum please can I go out and play?"

"Yep, just outside though no going to the park unless you ask me first"

"Okay"

Molly then went back to her friends who were waiting downstairs for her.

After a good couple of hours and a few disasters Rachel and Eddie had successfully managed to put the wardrobe together.

Rachel was Eddie were just coming down the stairs when Molly came in with two of her friends.

"Hi love are you coming back in now?"

"No but we all really need a wee" Molly said before the three of them ran upstairs

Rachel smiled before going into the kitchen with Eddie.

"You must have your hands full looking after all four of them"

"It's not easy I have to say" Rachel said laughing "But I wouldn't have it any other way"

"If you ever need a hand, you know where I am"

"Thanks Eddie, and I really do mean that for everything. I don't know how I'd have got through all of this if it wasn't for you"

"It was nothing, I care about you Rach I hated seeing you hurt"

The two of them were sat down having a coffee when Molly came in with her friends to make a drink.

"You can go out and play for a bit longer Molly but I want you back in in half an hour because we're going out"

"Okay"

Eddie stayed for a quick coffee before deciding to get going with Michael.

"Thanks for coming over Michael, sorry you couldn't do something a bit more fun with Daddy"

"I like it at your house, it's really big. Please can we come back here again Daddy?"

"Maybe, we'll have to see won't we"

Eddie picked Michael up and started opening the door.

"Say goodbye to Rachel then"

"Bye Rachel" Michael said putting his arms out to Rachel

Rachel took him off Eddie to give him a cuddle. Michael gave Rachel a kiss before going back to his Dad.

Rachel ruffled Michael's hair before Eddie walked out.

"Bye Rach, I'll see you Monday"

"Yeah enjoy the rest of the weekend"

"You too"

Rachel waved to Michael until Eddie had pulled off the drive before closing the door and going into the lounge where Lauren, Ella and Daisy were all watching T V.

"Your wardrobes done Ella"

"Can I go see?"

"Of course you can"

Ella went upstairs with Rachel and was really pleased with her new wardrobe.

"We'll put your stuff in when we get back"

"Where are we going?"

"I need to go to Tesco and I thought we could have a quick look around Next too so you can pick out a few bits for your room"

Rachel was planning on getting a takeaway for tea as she couldn't be bothered to cook but she thought they should get out for a bit as they'd been stuck inside all day.

"Okay"

"Do you mind doing me a favour and going to tell Molly it's time to come back in?"

"Yeah sure"

Ella got her shoes on and went out to find Molly so Rachel went into the lounge where Daisy was cuddled up on the sofa with Lauren.

"We're going to go out for a bit girls, we need to go to Tesco and we're going to go to Next too"

"Do we have to go, we're watching a film"

"We've been stuck inside all day so it'll do you good to get out for a bit"

Lauren rolled her eyes before going up to her room to get a coat.

Daisy got up off the sofa and went into the hallway with Rachel.

As they went out Ella knocked on the door so Rachel let the two of them in.

It took a while but eventually they were all ready to go out. With five people to get out of the house, it always did seem to take a while.

Rachel got a trolley and then they went around and got everything they needed.

"Do you two want to go and pick out a DVD for us to watch tonight once Daisy and Molly are in bed?" Rachel said to Lauren and Ella

"That's not fair why can't we stay up to watch it?"

"Because you were all late to bed last night so I don't want anyone to be too late tonight, we can watch something different before you go to bed though"

The girls went off to the DVD isle and started looking through them.

"How about this?" Lauren said holding up Love Rosie "I've been wanting to watch it for ages"

"It looks really good but it's a 15, will Rachel let us?"

"Yeah I watched a 15 with her last week when you were at your friends"

"Okay then"

Ella and Lauren went back to find Rachel. It took ages for them to find them again but eventually found them in the toiletries isle.

"We've been looking for you everywhere" Ella said

"Sorry love, I forgot to pick up conditioner. Did you find a DVD?"

"Yep we've picked up Love, Rosie" Lauren said putting the DVD in the trolley

Rachel looked at it and saw it was the type of thing she thought the girls would pick out but then she realised it was a 15.

"We can't watch that it's a 15"

"So"

"So neither of you are old enough to watch it" Rachel said picking up the DVD to read the back

"We watched one last weekend"

"Only because you lied to me and said it was a 12"

"It's not like it's going to be about anything we've never heard of before"

"I don't know" Rachel said thinking Ella probably was a bit too young

"Please Rachel" Ella said

"Oh go on then, you girls have got me wrapped around your little fingers" Rachel said rolling her eyebrows

Once they'd finished their shopping they went to pay before putting all the shopping in the boot and driving to the Next home store.

They started looking around and picking out stuff for their bedrooms.

Ella and Daisy both picked out some new bedding as at the minute they just had plain white ones on along with some other decorations.

Rachel let Lauren and Molly pick out a couple of bits for their bedrooms too.

Rachel ended up spending a fortune buying the girls stuff for their rooms, but she didn't mind they all deserved a treat after everything they'd had to go through recently.

It was getting quite late so they headed home and took everything into the house.

Everyone was starting to get hungry so Rachel rang up and ordered the Chinese before unpacking the shopping with help from Daisy and Molly.

"Thanks for your help girls, do you want to go and stick a DVD on or something?"

The two girls ran into the lounge so Rachel went upstairs to help Ella sort her room out a bit.

A lot of Ella's stuff was on Rachel's bed still so she carried it all through and then the two of them started to put it away.

"Your fairy lights look good"

"I know it looks really pretty, thanks for buying me all of this stuff Rach"

"That's okay darling, this is where you live now so I want it to feel like a home to you"

"It kind of does already, we always used to stay over anyway"

"I know you did"

They'd been up there for a while when eventually the doorbell rang.

Rachel presumed it must be the Chinese so she quickly ran into her bedroom and grabbed her purse from her bag.

Once she'd laid it out on the table she called the girls down.

They were all starving by now so came in straight away.

It was so nice that things were starting to go back to normal.

Over the last few weeks everyone had been so upset and Rachel had hated seeing them like that, so she was so glad to see the girls all smiling again.

"I'll just clear up the kitchen, and then I think we'll get you two into your pyjamas" Rachel said looking at Molly and Daisy

"I don't want to go to bed yet Rachel" Daisy said

"You don't have to go to bed, I just want you to be ready for bed before we watch TV"

"I don't mind clearing up Mum, if you want to go up now"

"Okay thanks love, do you want to help her Ella?"

"Yeah I'll help"

Rachel smiled before taking Daisy and Molly up.

"I'll be in in a minute Molly, I'll just help Daisy first. I think you've got some pyjamas under your pillow"

"Don't I need a bath tonight Rachel?" Daisy asked

"No you had one last night, so I thought we'd just give it a miss tonight"

Daisy got her pyjamas out from under her pillow and then Rachel helped her to get changed into them.

Rachel got Daisy's dressing gown off the back of the door for her and put it on.

"Do you want to go downstairs love, I'll just go and check on Molly and then I'll be down"

Rachel went to Molly's bedroom. Molly had pushed the door closed so Rachel gently opened it.

Molly was just stood in her knickers.

"I'm getting changed"

"It's only me darling" Rachel said coming into the room

"Well you should've knocked, you always knock when Ella and Lauren have their door closed"

"Sorry love" Rachel said smiling, living with two older girls meant that Molly was always trying to be like them

Molly finished getting into her pyjamas and then put her dressing gown on before going downstairs with Rachel.

Rachel went into the kitchen to see how Ella and Lauren were getting on. When she went in there she was they were nearly done.

"Thanks girls"

"That's alright" Lauren said

Looking after four children on her own wasn't an easy task, so Rachel really was grateful for how much the girls did help her out.

Rachel wiped down the table and then they were all done so the three of them went into the lounge.

Rachel put on Britain's got Talent knowing everyone would like that.

After it had finished Rachel took Daisy straight up to bed.

"Go for a wee and clean your teeth"

Daisy went into the bathroom so Rachel went and waited for her in her bedroom.

She was sat on Daisy's bed when she heard her shouting so went into the bathroom to see what Daisy wanted.

"I'm really thirsty please can I have a drink?"

"Okay I'll go and get you a glass of water"

Daisy finished on the loo and then went and got into her bed.

Rachel got Daisy a small glass of water, she didn't want to give her too much because she knew she'd be needing the loo all night otherwise.

"Molly time for bed now"

Molly sighed before going upstairs with her Mum.

"Go to the bathroom, and I'll be into tuck you in after I've said goodnight to Daisy"

Rachel went into Daisy's room and gave her drink to her.

Daisy took it and started gulping it down.

"Not too much or you'll have to get up again to go for a wee"

Daisy had had enough so passed it back to Rachel.

Once she was comfy Rachel sat there for a bit before kissing her on the forehead and going into put Molly to bed.

Molly took a bit longer than Daisy to settle down. She kept talking but eventually stopped so Rachel stayed with her for a bit before going back downstairs.

"Are you ready to put the DVD on girls?" Rachel asked

"Yeah I'm just going to put my pyjamas on first" Lauren replied

"That's a good idea"

They all went upstairs and got changed into their pyjamas before going down and putting the film on.

Rachel got a blanket so they all snuggled up under it.

They all really enjoyed it, not that she thought it was really something the girls should've watched, especially Ella. But she knew if they didn't watch it with her they'd only watch it with their friends.

Ella had felt quite uncomfortable watching some parts with Rachel being there but she'd still really enjoyed it.

At the end of the film Ella and Lauren went upstairs to bed. Rachel turned everything off before going up too.

She checked on Daisy and Molly who were both fast asleep before going in and saying goodnight to Ella.

Once Ella was tucked in she went and did the same for Lauren before going to her own bedroom.

She got ready for bed before climbing into her big bed.

Rachel had felt really tired when she was watching the film but now she's got into bed she felt wide awake.

After laying there for a while not being able to sleep she decded to have a look through some photos.

After talking to Daisy about their holiday to Disneyland she started looking through the album from when they went there.

Looking through all of the photos and seeing Dave suddenly made Rachel really miss him. She just wanted him back and to be tucked up in bed with him now.

As she sat there looking through the photos Rachel couldn't help but cry and once she started she couldn't seem to stop.

Lauren couldn't sleep either, so like she normally did when she couldn't sleep she went across the landing and into her Mum's room.

She opened her Mum's bedroom door and was shocked when she saw her Mum crying.

Lauren wasn't used to seeing her Mum crying, Rachel would hardly ever cry in front of the girls.

Even after Dave's death when she was around the girls she tried to remain strong and save her tears for when she was on her own.

"Mum are you okay?"

Rachel hadn't been expecting anyone to come in, so quickly wiped away her tears before turning to face her daughter.

"Yes I'm fine love"

"No you're not, I can see you've been crying"

Lauren went and climbed into bed next to her Mum and wrapped her arms around her.

This was enough to make Rachel start crying again. She hated crying all the time but she just couldn't seem to help it.

Rachel held Lauren and continued to cry.

Seeing her Mum so upset made Lauren cry.

Rachel saw this so tried her best to compose herself.

"Oh love don't cry, what's wrong?"

"I don't like it when you cry"

"I know you don't I'm sorry" Rachel said feeling bad

"It's not your fault, are you crying because you miss Dave?"

"Yeah" Rachel said giving a sad smile

"I really miss him too"

"I know you do"

"I know he wasn't my Dad, but he was really starting to feel like one to me"

"I know he was and he loved you to bits. You'd never have known you and Molly aren't his children"

Although at first Lauren had been reluctant to try and like Dave, she'd become really close to him and they'd built up a relationship just like a father and daughter.

"I wish he didn't die"

"Me too darling, me too"

The two of them stayed cuddled up for a while. Rachel had to admit she was glad of the company.

"Why did you come in anyway?"

"I just can't sleep"

"Me neither"

"I'm feeling tired now though"

"Do you want me to put you back into bed?"

Lauren nodded so Rachel went into her room with her.

"Are you okay now Mum?"

"Yeah I'm fine"

"I thought you weren't so upset about it anymore"

"I'm not, but we're always going to miss him and even though with time things get easier it's never going to be the same is it?"

"No. Mum will Daisy even remember Dave when she gets older?"

"She'll have some memories with him, but it will be harder for her to remember him than the rest of us"

"It's really sad"

"I know"

Rachel stayed in Lauren's bedroom and stroked her hair until she drifted off to sleep, just like she used to when she was little.

Once Lauren was fast asleep Rachel straightened up her duvet a bit before going back to her own bed.

This time it didn't take her long to drop off to sleep because she was really tired now.

She managed to sleep right through the night for the first time since Dave had died. She'd been having really restless night's sleep so she was really glad to not have woken up at all.

When she did wake up it was because Daisy had jumped in bed next to her for a cuddle.

Rachel kept her eyes closed hoping that Daisy would go back to sleep for a bit.

"Rachel are you awake?"

Rachel smiled before opening her eyes.

"Yes, did you sleep okay love?"

"Yes thank you but when I woke up in the night to go for a wee, I couldn't get back to sleep for ages because the rain was really loud"

"I take it you got back to sleep eventually though?"

"Yes"

Rachel and Daisy stayed in bed for a bit longer before Rachel decided to get up. She was looking forward to spending another day with the girls.

Please review and let me know what you think xxxx


	2. Chapter 2

It was a Friday night and Rachel was sat at the table eating tea with Ella, Molly and Daisy.

Lauren wasn't there as she'd gone to her friend's house for a sleepover.

Rachel was looking forward to getting the younger two into bed and just relaxing for the rest of the evening.

Everyone else had finished eating apart from Molly who always seemed to take ages to finish.

"Rachel please can we have pudding now?"

"Not yet, Molly's still eating isn't she?"

"Molly hurry up"

"I'm being as quick as I can"

"It's alright love, take your time. We aren't in any hurry" Rachel said looking at Daisy

Once Molly had finished eating Rachel cleared the plates away and got the banoffee pie that they'd made earlier out of the fridge.

It didn't take them long to eat that so once they'd finished Rachel let Daisy and Molly play out in the garden for a bit longer as it was a really nice evening.

Rachel and Ella both got their books and sat outside and read while the girls played.

At about 7 Rachel decided to get the bath run for Daisy and Molly.

She went upstairs to the bathroom and when it was done she shouted out of Molly's bedroom telling them to come up.

"We want to play for longer Mum"

"You're bath will be cold"

"We'll just have one tomorrow"

"No I've run it now, come on up you come"

Molly crossed her arms before reluctantly coming inside. Daisy came in too.

The two girls went into the bathroom.

"Thank you for coming in, I know you wanted to stay out longer but you don't want to be tired for going out tomorrow do you?"

"No" Molly said

Daisy started to get undressed.

"Molly are you going to take your clothes off too love?"

"I need to go to the toilet"

"Well go on then"

"I can't with you and Daisy in here"

"I don't think it really matters but if you're fussed go and use my bathroom"

Molly ran off and went to the toilet and returned a few minutes later.

She took off her clothes before climbing into the bath next to Daisy.

Rachel sat and watched the girls while they had a little play in the bath.

Once they'd been in for a while Rachel got their hair wet so she could wash their hair.

Once they were done Rachel got them out and wrapped a towel around each of them.

She got them ready for bed before taking them into their bedrooms and settling them down.

It took a while to get them both off but eventually she tiptoed out of Molly's bedroom and went down to the lounge where Ella was watching the TV.

"Is there anything you want love?"

"No thank you"

"Are you sure, you don't want a drink or anything?"

"No I'm fine"

Rachel went out to the kitchen and poured herself a glass of white wine before going in and sitting next to Ella on the sofa.

They sat there watching the TV for a bit but Rachel had noticed Ella had been quite quiet all night so wanted to make sure that she was okay.

"Is everything okay Ella?"

"Yes why?"

"You just seem quiet that's all"

"No I'm fine" Ella said however tears started to form in her eyes.

She tried her best to stop crying because she didn't want Rachel to see.

However Rachel saw and wrapped her arms around Ella and let her cry into her chest.

They stayed like that for a few minutes. Rachel stroked Ella's hair while she continued to cry.

"What's up sweetheart?"

"It's nothing I'm just being stupid"

"I'm sure you're not, come on tell me what's up"

"It was just something Mrs Green said in PSCHE today, it made me think of Mum that's all"

"What did she say?"

"Well we were having a talk about periods and stuff and Mrs Green said asking your Mum how old she was when she started her periods can give you a rough idea of how old you'll be when you start yours. But I can't ask Mum because she's not here" Ella cried

"I know how hard it must be growing up without your Mum. You're getting to a bit of a difficult age when you really need your Mum, but you know you've got me and I'm always here for you"

"I know it's not that I miss having her around because I don't even remember her, but I just wish that I had"

"I know love, that's only natural" Rachel said rubbing her back "and Mrs Green is right the age a girl's Mum started her periods can be a good indicator but there lots of other signs too"

"Like what?" Ella asked, she felt a bit embarrassed talking about this with Rachel but she always did find Rachel quite easy to talk to about things like that

"Well just how quickly you're developing and growing, and your emotions can be a bit of a sign too"

"The other day I heard you telling Mel I was being really emotional lately so does that mean I'm going to start soon?" Ella asked starting to feel quite worried

"Well maybe, I'd imagine you're definitely going to start in the next year or so but it's nothing to worry about"

"I don't want to start though"

"You're bound to feel like that, I know it's a really scary thing but when it does happen just come and tell me and I'll help you okay?"

"I will thanks Rachel"

"That's okay darling, I'll go and get you some tissue" Rachel said kissing her on the forehead.

Rachel went into downstairs loo and got some toilet roll. She also got a bar of chocolate out of the cupboard before going back into the lounge.

She wiped Ella's tears away before passing her the chocolate.

The two of them put a film on and snuggled up on the sofa.

By the end of it they were both feeling pretty tired.

"I can't believe we ate that whole bar of chocolate" Rachel said laughing

"It was really nice"

"It certainly was, are you ready to go up to bed?"

"Yeah I'm really tired"

"Me too, I'll just lock up and then I'll be in to say goodnight"

Ella went upstairs and got ready for bed.

She'd just got into bed when Rachel came into say goodnight.

"Are you feeling a bit happier now love?"

"Yes thank you"

"I'm glad. Sleep well darling see you in the morning"

"Night Rach, love you"

"Love you too"

Rachel left Ella to go to sleep before going to bed herself.

She fell asleep pretty much instantly.

It felt like she'd only just closed her eyes when she was woken up by someone ringing the doorbell.

Rachel looked at the clock and saw it was midnight so wondered who on earth would be at the door at this time of night.

Rachel put her dressing gown on and wrapped it around tightly before going downstairs.

She opened the door and was extremely shocked to see her daughter there with two of her friends barely able to stand.

"We're really sorry Rachel but we thought Lauren needed to come home"

"Have you been drinking or something?" Rachel said absolutely shocked

The girls looked really guilty but neither of them answered her.

"We're going to go back now, we're really sorry"

Rachel helped Lauren up from the ground as she'd decided to sit down.

"Bye girls"

Rachel took Lauren in and took her straight up stairs.

"I can't believe you Lauren getting yourself like this"

"I'm sorry Mum I was just having fun"

"Just having fun? I'd hardly call getting yourself into such a state fun" Rachel said but she knew there was no point lecturing her now.

Lauren laid straight down on her bed and Rachel had to get her changed into her pyjamas.

"This is something I haven't done for a while" Rachel said as she put Lauren's pyjama top over her head.

"Mum I don't feel well" Lauren mumbled

"Well there's no wonder" Rachel said however she was quick to get her to the bathroom.

Lauren was very nearly sick on the landing but luckily Rachel did manage to get her head over the toilet before she actually was.

Rachel rubbed her back while her daughter continued to be sick.

When she was done Rachel took off her daughter's makeup.

Lauren went to the loo before Rachel took her into her bedroom.

Rachel was worried about letting Lauren sleep on her own because she really was quite bad so Rachel decided to put her in her bed.

As soon as Lauren was in Rachel's bed she basically passed out.

Rachel got into bed next to her daughter.

It took her a while to drop off to sleep but eventually she did.

Lauren woke up a couple of hours later feeling quite groggy.

She sat and realised she was in her Mum's room. She had no idea why she was in here but then she remembered she was meant to be staying at her friends so wondered what she was doing at home.

She realised her Mum must have found out she'd been drinking though.

Rachel stirred when she felt Lauren sit up.

"Are you okay Lauren? You're not going to be sick again are you?"

Lauren just shook her head before lying down again.

"Mum I'm really sorry" Lauren said clearly feeling very worried about how her Mum was going to react

"We'll talk about it in the morning Lauren, I'm tired" Rachel said quite coldly as she was feeling quite angry with her daughter

"Okay" Lauren said before turning back over and closing her eyes again

It took her ages to go back to sleep though because she felt wide awake.

Lauren woke up at about 10 the next morning with an awful headache.

Rachel was sat at her dressing table doing her makeup when she saw Lauren starting to wake up.

"You better get in the shower Lauren, we're leaving in an hour" Rachel said as they were going into Manchester for the day with Mel.

"Can I stay here Mum I'm not feeling very well"

"No you absolutely cannot. It's your own fault you're feeling like this so you're not getting any sympathy from me"

Lauren could tell her Mum was extremely angry so realised she'd better do what she said.

Lauren got out of bed and slowly made her way to her bathroom.

After her shower Lauren wrapped a towel around herself before going to find Rachel again because she was feeling really bad. She hated her Mum being angry with her.

"Mum I don't know what to say to make it better, but I really am sorry"

"Being sorry isn't really good enough it it Lauren? There's no way you should have been drinking last night and certainly not so much you're thirteen for gods sake"

"I didn't mean to drink so much, everyone else was drinking too so I didn't want to be the only one not"

"Everyone else at the party?" Rachel asked and Lauren nodded

"So not only did you drink you also lied to me saying you were going to Sophie's with a few friends, but really you were going to a party"

Lauren just looked at the ground not knowing what to say.

"You really are unbelievable"

"I've said I'm sorry"

"Just because you've said sorry doesn't mean you're going to get off lightly. Now get out of my sight I don't want to talk about this now"

Lauren burst into tears before going back to her own bedroom.

Rachel felt a bit bad but she knew she was too angry to go and speak to her at the minute, she needed to calm down first.

Once she'd finished doing her hair Rachel went and got Daisy dressed as she was still in her pyjamas.

She then went and packed everything up ready to go.

After she'd done this she'd calmed down quite a lot so she decided to go and speak to her daughter because she realised she had been a bit too hard on her.

She went upstairs and knocked on Lauren's bedroom door.

"Go away"

"Lauren's it's me, I want to speak to you can I come in?"

"No"

Rachel went in anyway and found Lauren crying on her bed just with her towel on still.

"I said you couldn't come in"

Rachel didn't reply to this, just went and sat by her on her bed.

"I'm sorry for being so hard on you, but can you see why I'm not very happy about what you did?"

Lauren nodded her head.

"I really am sorry"

"I can see you are, I was just so shocked before"

Lauren continued to cry.

"Please don't cry love. We both know what you did was wrong but everyone makes mistakes don't they? I've certainly made plenty"

Lauren smiled slightly, she was glad Rachel didn't seem angry with her anymore.

"Now I hope you realise you're too young to be drinking with your friends. I'm not going to stop you when you're a bit older as long as you're careful, but I don't think you should be doing it for a while do you?"

"I know it was fun at first but then I couldn't seem to stop crying and I started feeling really ill"

"That's alcohol for you, I can tell you from experience it's very easy to drink so much you do things you regret"

"I'm really sorry Mum" Lauren said wrapping her arms around her Mum

"I know darling, we'll say no more about it I just don't want a repeat performance anytime soon, okay?"

"There won't be I promise"

"Good girl, now you'd better get ready. We're leaving in half an hour"

"My heads killing Mum"

"I'll go and get you a painkiller"

"Thank you"

Once Rachel had left Lauren started to get dressed.

Rachel returned a few minutes later with a glass of water and a couple of tablets.

Lauren quickly took them.

"I'm never going to be ready on time"

"Yes you are do you want me to dry your hair for you?" Rachel asked knowing her daughter liked it when she did this

"Yes please"

Rachel went and got her hair drier before drying Lauren's hair for her.

Lauren then stuck her hair up. She didn't bother to put any makeup on either because she really couldn't be bothered.

They were a little bit late but eventually they were all ready.

They got into the car and drove to the station where Mel was waiting in the car park for them.

Rachel went and bought the tickets and then they went to wait on the platform.

The train pulled in a few minutes later so they all got on to go into Manchester.

"Rachel what are we doing when we get there?" Ella asked

"Well I thought we could have our picnic first, save having to carry all of this food around with us"

"Good I'm hungry"

When they got there they went to a park and Rachel put out the picnic blankets and got all the food out of the bags.

It was a really nice day so they spent a couple of hours there.

Rachel, Mel, Lauren and Ella sat on the picnic blankets chatting while Molly and Daisy went off to play.

"Rach when are we going shopping?"

"We can go now if you want I'll just round the girls up"

Rachel went over to the play area where Molly and Daisy were playing.

"Girls we're going to go to the shops now"

They both ran out and walked back to the blankets with Rachel.

Once they were all packed up they went to the shops.

Daisy was quite clingy to Rachel on the way to the shops.

"Rachel my tummy's hurting" Daisy said

"Oh is it, when did that start?"

"Just before we left the park"

"See how you go and if it doesn't get any better I've got some calpol in my bag"

"Okay" Daisy said feeling quite sorry for herself

Lauren and Ella went off on there own for a bit so Rachel and Mel took the two little girls into next.

Rachel picked up some nice bits for Molly and Daisy and then got some things for herself too.

They were just paying when Rachel had a call from Ella.

"Hi love, everything okay?"

"Yes thank you, please can you come and look at a dress I've tried on?"

"Yeah okay, where are you?"

"New Look"

"Okay I'll be there soon"

"I need to meet the girls in New Look do you two want to stay with Mel?" Rachel said after she'd paid

"I want to stay with you" Daisy said

"Okay Molly wat do you want to do?"

"I'll stay with Auntie Mel"

"Okay shall we meet you in costa after for a drink?" Rachel suggested

"Yep okay"

Rachel then went into New Look with Daisy and found the girls in the changing rooms.

"Wow Ella that's lovely" Rachel said when she saw the dress Ella was trying on

"Can I get it?"

"Yeah I think you'll get a lot of wear out of that over the summer"

"Have you seen anything you like Lauren?"

"No not really"

"That's got to be a first" Rachel said laughing, she thought it was probably because Lauren was a bit hungover though

"Okay I'll go and pay for the dress then we're going to Costa"

They soon met up with Mel and Molly in Costa.

Mel ordered while Rachel went and found a table with Daisy.

"How's your tummy now Daisy?"

"It still hurts"

"Okay do you want some calpol then?"

"Yes please"

Rachel went through her bag and found the sachets of calpol she had.

She gave two to Daisy.

"I need the toilet Rachel"

"Okay, just wait for them to come over and then I'll take you"

Lauren came on over so Rachel took Daisy to the loo.

They both went before going back to the table.

They all had a really nice together but by the end of it Lauren, Daisy and Molly were all shattered so Rachel picked up some pizzas on the way home so they could have an early night.

By the time they got home Daisy's tummy was feeling a lot better.

They had another lazy evening and Lauren had a very early night. She was glad Rachel hadn't been too cross with her in the end.


	3. Chapter 3

It was late on a Sunday afternoon and Rachel was getting everything ready for school the next day as they were going to Mel's for tea and she knew she wouldn't feel like getting everything sorted when they got back.

"Girls can you come and get your uniform?" Rachel shouted as she'd just spent the past hour ironing it all

When Ella came in Rachel noticed she was still wearing her joggers and a hoodie as they'd just had a lazy day around the house.

"Aren't you going to get changed before we go to Mel's?"

"I forgot we were going there for tea, can I just stop here Rach? I really don't feel like going out"

"That'll be a bit boring staying here on your own while we go out"

"I don't mind"

"No come on love come with us you'll have a nice time once you get there"

"I really don't want to go"

"Why not?"

"You wouldn't want anyone seeing you if your face looked like this would you?" Ella shouted tears forming in her eyes

Ella ran out of Rachel's bedroom and into her own.

Rachel sighed. Ella's eczema was up at the minute and she knew how self-conscious it was making her feel.

Once the other girls had been in to get their uniform Rachel decided to go and have a word with Ella.

When Rachel got to Ella's bedroom door she knocked and then waited outside.

However when she got no response she went in anyway and then closed the door behind her.

Ella was curled up on her bed crying into her pillow so Rachel went and sat by her.

"Oh love I know how horrible it must be feeling with your eczema up and everything"

"No you don't"

"Oh believe me I do, when I was your age I used to suffer with eczema quite badly, but sweetheart I promise you it really doesn't look that bad"

"Yes it does it's so red, and it's all sore and itchy" Ella cried

Rachel pulled Ella into her chest and cuddled her while she had a little cry.

"I'm sure it feels a lot worse than it looks. No-one will even take any notice of it at Mel's and if they do it'll only be because they care"

"Okay I'll come, I just wish my skin would go back to normal" Ella sighed, she'd suffered from really bad eczema when she was little but she'd grown out of it however it seemed to have flared up again recently

"I know love, I think we should go to the doctors tomorrow to get you some more cream, just moisturising it probably isn't enough"

Rachel then got a tissue out of the box on Ella's bedside cabinet and gently wiped away Ella's tears before having a proper look at the eczema on Ella's face. She did feel sorry for her because it did look quite sore.

"Right are you going to get changed then?" Rachel asked and Ella nodded her head

Rachel left her to it and went to make Molly and Daisy's pack lunches.

Once she'd made them she saw it was nearly time to leave so shouted the girls down.

Rachel picked up the tub of brownies that she'd made with Molly earlier before going out into the hall where Molly was getting her shoes on already.

"Good girl" Rachel said ruffling her hair

"Lauren, Ella, Daisy we're going"

Lauren and Ella both came down a minute or so later however there was still no sign of Daisy so Rachel decided to go up.

When she went into Daisy's room she found her lying on her bed looking as if she could fall asleep any minute.

Daisy hadn't been her usual self over the last few days so Rachel was beginning to get quite worried about her.

"Are you feeling okay sweetheart?" Rachel asked and Daisy shook her head

"How don't you feel very well?" Rachel asked crouching down beside her

"I feel all achy and I've got a headache and I feel sick"

"Oh dear, that doesn't sound very good. Shall I get you some medicine?"

"Yes please"

"Okay, are you going to be alright to go to Mel's for tea still?"

All Daisy wanted to do was get into bed but she didn't want to cause any trouble so said she'd be fine.

Rachel held Daisy's hand and took her into the kitchen.

She sat her up on the worktop while she gave her the medicine before the two of them went and got their shoes on.

Once they'd parked up outside Mel's house Rachel glanced in the mirror and saw that Daisy had fallen asleep. She knew Daisy could probably have done with going to bed now but Mel was expecting them so there wasn't a lot she could do.

"Go on in girls, I'll carry Daisy in. Lauren can you take the brownies love?"

Rachel undid Daisy's seatbelt and lifted her out and then carried her into Mel's house before lying her down on the sofa. Daisy didn't wake up at all.

"Is Daisy not very well?" Mel asked when she saw her lying on the sofa

"No she hasn't been right for the last few days but she seems worse tonight. Is there anything I can do?"

"No I don't think so, actually you could make the gravy if you don't mind"

"No problem"

Lauren and Ella both went upstairs with Sophie to her bedroom. Sophie was Mel's 15 year old daughter and Ella and Lauren both got on really well with her.

"What do you want to do Molly?" Rachel asked

"Can I go and play with Phil?"

"Yep he's up in his room" Mel said so Molly ran upstairs

Rachel then went into the kitchen with her sister and the two of them carried on eating together.

After a little while it was all ready so they put it all in the middle of the table before calling the kids in.

Rachel went into the lounge and saw that Daisy was awake now so she went and sat by her.

"Are you going to come and have a little bit of tea love?"

"I'm not hungry"

"Well I think you should try, it might make you feel a bit better"

"Okay" Daisy said

She followed Rachel into the kitchen and then sat down at the table

They were about halfway through and Rachel had noticed Daisy was just playing with her food and not really eating it.

"Have you had enough to eat Daisy?"

"Yes I feel a bit sick"

"Okay well do you want to go back on the sofa?"

Daisy nodded and then went back into the lounge.

After everyone had finished eating they started to clear away.

Suddenly Daisy appeared at the door.

"Rachel I need to show you something?"

"What is it?"

"No I can't show you with everyone in here"

"Okay shall we go upstairs?"

Daisy and Rachel went up into the bathroom.

"What's wrong sweetheart?"

"Look" Daisy said as she pulled her top right up showing Rachel the rash that was all over her chest and stomach

"Oh yeah I wonder what's caused that to come up, is it itchy?"

"Yeah that's why I noticed it because it was all itchy"

"Turn around so I can see if it's on your back too"

Rachel realised she was actually covered in this rash and was beginning to wonder if Daisy had chickenpox.

She was pretty sure that was what she had because she had all the same symptoms that Lauren and Molly had when they had it.

"I think you might have chickenpox love"

"Oh no doesn't that make you feel really poorly?"

"It can do, but hopefully if we keep you dosed up with calpol you won't feel too bad. You'll have to try your best not to itch though"

"Rachel I feel really hot"

Rachel put her hand to Daisy's forehead and she realised she did have a temperature.

"Take your cardigan and tights off that should make you feel a bit cooler"

After a few more minutes the two of them went back downstairs.

"I think we've got a case of the chickenpox" Rachel said as they went back into the kitchen

"Is that what I had Mum when I was all itchy?"

"Yes it is love"

"Does that mean Daisy gets the day off school tomorrow?"

"It certainly does"

After they'd finished clearing up and eaten the brownies Rachel decided to get going.

Normally they would have stayed for a bit longer however Rachel knew she needed to get Daisy home.

"Thanks for having us over Mel, it was lovely"

"You're welcome, I think you well deserved it after the amount of times we eat at yours" Mel said laughing

Once they'd all said goodbye Rachel drove home again.

As soon as they got in Rachel took Daisy straight upstairs and got her changed into one of her summer night dresses as she thought she'd be cooler in this than pyjamas.

"You can probably have some more medicine now, I'll just go and you some"

Rachel went and got some medicine out of the bathroom cupboard.

When she came back into Daisy's bedroom she found her sat on her bed scratching everywhere.

"Stop scratching love"

"But I'm all itchy"

"I know you are, but you don't want to scratch your spots or you'll end up with scars"

Rachel poured the medicine onto the spoon and gave it to Daisy.

"Go for a wee and clean your teeth and then you can jump into my bed" Rachel said thinking it would be better if Daisy came in with her because she'd have a better chance of stopping her from scratching

"Why your bed?"

"Because you can stay in with me tonight"

"Really?"

"Yep"

Daisy went into the bathroom while Rachel waited outside and then the two of them went through to Rachel's bedroom.

"How are you feeling, I know you're all itchy but in yourself?"

"I feel a bit better than did before"

"That's probably the medicine kicking in, I'm glad you're feeling a bit better though"

Daisy climbed into bed and Rachel only the put the sheet over her wanting to keep her as cool as possible.

"Are you coming to bed now Rachel?"

"Not yet, I won't be too long though"

Rachel saw with Daisy until she fell asleep and then went downstairs.

"Right Molly time for bed my love"

Much to Rachel's surprise Molly came upstairs with no fuss but Rachel knew she was probably tired after having a couple of late nights over the weekend.

Once Molly was ready for bed she got in so Rachel tucked her in.

Rachel sat with her for a while just like she'd done with Daisy before going downstairs and watching some TV with Ella and Lauren.

Rachel was going to ring Jenny and Michael, Ella and Daisy's grandparents, to see if they could look after Daisy tomorrow but she remembered that they'd been in Cornwall for the weekend and weren't coming home until tomorrow evening.

"Who's going to look after Daisy tomorrow?" Ella asked

"I'm going to have to work from home tomorrow"

"I can stay off school and look after her" Ella said trying to get a day off school too

"Yeah because I can totally see me agreeing to that, nice try young lady"

Rachel watched TV for an hour or so but when it got to 9 Rachel sent Ella up to bed as she didn't want her to be tired for school.

"Time for bed Ella, I'll be up in a minute to say goodnight"

Rachel waited for a few minutes before going into Ella's bedroom.

Ella finished getting ready and then got into bed.

"Your skin does look sore, I'll ring the doctors first thing in the morning so we can get you seen to"

"Okay, I thought my eczema had gone I haven't had it for ages"

"I know love, it's probably just the age you're at you know with all the changes you're going through and everything"

"It's not fair"

"I know sweetheart, I know. If we get some cream though hopefully it will clear it up"

"I hope so"

Rachel chatted with her for a few minutes before leaving her to go to sleep.

She stayed down for another hour or so with Lauren and then the two of them both went up to bed.

Rachel go herself ready for bed and then got in next to Daisy, who already seemed to be spread out across the bed with all of the covers.

Rachel laughed before lying her straight again and taking some of the sheet so she wasn't cold.

She dropped off to sleep pretty much straight away however neither of them had a very good night sleep.

Daisy woke up a few times because she was all hot and not feeling very well, and Rachel kept trying to stop her itching which kept waking her up too.

When Rachel's alarm went off the next morning her and Daisy were both fast asleep.

Rachel sighed before quickly switching her alarm off hoping it wouldn't wake Daisy.

She wanted to stay in bed for another five minutes but she knew if she didn't get up now she never would so she got out of bed and went straight in the shower.

Once she'd washed her hair she got out again and wrapped a towel around herself before going into wake Lauren, Ella and Molly up.

All three of them were very reluctant to get out of bed but eventually they all got out and started getting ready.

Once she knew they were all up and weren't planning on getting back into bed she went and got into some comfy clothes and dried her hair before going downstairs to make breakfast.

"Girls, breakfast" Rachel called up the stairs

Lauren and Molly both came down within a few minutes and started eating however there was no sign of Ella so Rachel decided to go up and get her.

She knew Ella didn't really like having breakfast but Rachel never felt happy sending her to school on an empty stomach.

"I know you don't like having breakfast, but at least have some toast or a piece of fruit" Rachel said as she walked into her bedroom however when she did she found Ella in front of her mirror in tears

"What's wrong love?" Rachel asked coming over to her

"I can't go to school looking like this, my face looks even worse today"

"I'm sure it doesn't, but I really don't think that makeup you've put on is helping"

"I know it just looks even worse now it's just making my skin look all orange and flaky"

"Come with me" Rachel said

Ella followed Rachel into the bathroom and then Rachel got the makeup remover and took all of the makeup off Ella's face.

"I know it's making you feel really self-conscious but I promise you it doesn't look that bad"

"Yes it does it looks awful, please don't make me go to school today Rachel just let me have one day off"

"I really can't let you stay off just because of this, once you get to school you'll feel fine I promise"

Ella sighed, she knew there was no way she was going to convince Rachel so she just went down and sat at the table and had breakfast with the others.

The morning quickly passed and it was soon time to do the school run.

Rachel went and got some clothes for Daisy before going into her bedroom to wake Daisy.

She didn't want to wake her when she finally looked so peaceful but she didn't really have any other choice.

Rachel gently woke Daisy up and she gradually stirred.

"I'm afraid we need to take Lauren, Ella and Molly to school so you're going to have to get up my love"

"But I want to stay in bed" Daisy said before bursting into tears, Rachel knew this was just because she was tired. She always did get quite teary when she hadn't had a good nights sleep.

"You can get straight back into bed when we get home if you like, come on get dressed for me"

Daisy got out of bed so Rachel started to get her dressed.

"I need a wee"

"Go on then"

Daisy quickly ran into Rachel's ensuite and when she came back Rachel put a dress over Daisy's head before the two of them went downstairs.

They drove to the primary school first to drop Molly off.

"Bye love, have a good day"

"Bye Mum" Molly said. Rachel had picked up that she'd been a little quiet this morning so she decided to have a word with her when she got home later.

"Ella, I've got you a doctor's appointment for this afternoon so if you go to reception straight after lunch and I'll pick you up"

"Okay"

Rachel glanced over at her. She could tell she was really worried about going into school today so she placed her hand on her leg reassuringly.

"Everything will be fine, I promise" Rachel smiled

They were soon at Waterloo Road so the two girls got out of the car and walked into school.

"Just me and you for the rest of the day then love"

Rachel drove them both home and they went inside.

"Do you still want to go back to bed?"

"No I don't want to now"

"Are you sure? You can try and have a little sleep I know you're tired after last night"

"No I don't to, I want to stay down with you"

"Okay shall I get you some breakfast then?" Rachel asked and Daisy nodded

"What would you like?"

"Please can I have some Weetabix?"

"I would think so"

Rachel got her comfy on the sofa before going out to the kitchen to make her breakfast.

She came back in and they watched a film while Daisy ate her breakfast.

Rachel then got her laptop and did a bit of work, because she knew if she didn't start now she wouldn't want to do it at all.

Rachel glanced up from her laptop and saw that Daisy had fallen asleep. She was glad about this as she knew otherwise she would just be tired and teezy for the rest of the day.

Rachel managed to get a good couple of hours of work done while Daisy slept.

Daisy woke up at about lunchtime but she was really itchy so Rachel was having a hard job stopping her from scratching.

"Do you remember what I said would happen if you keep scratching love?"

"I'll get scars"

"Yes and you don't want that do you?"

"No but I'm really hot and itchy" Daisy said

It was a really hot day outside which wasn't helping. Rachel had a fan out but it wasn't helping to cool it down that much.

"I know you are, why don't you take your dress off that should make you a bit cooler and more comfortable"

"But then I won't have any clothes on"

"Well it's only me and you here, so I don't think it really matters does it?"

"No"

Daisy then took her dress off however as soon as she did there was a knock at the door.

"Don't let them come in here" Daisy said sounding worried

"Don't worry I won't" Rachel said laughing

Rachel went and answered the door and saw it was a next delivery, she'd made a big order yesterday as they all needed some new summer clothes.

Rachel took it all into the lounge and started going through it.

Daisy saw the new swimsuit Rachel had bought for her.

"Can we go swimming Rachel?"

"Not when you're swimming we can't"

"Why not?"

"Because it will make you even more itchy, and they wouldn't let you in anyway when you have chickenpox because it's really easy to catch"

"Does that mean you're going to catch it?"

"No because I've already had chickenpox and once you've had it once it's very rare for you to get it again"

Rachel made them both some lunch and they sat out in the garden to eat it but Rachel made sure they were in the shade.

After they'd finished eating it was time to go and get Ella to take her to the doctors so they drove to Waterloo Road.

"Are you going to be okay here for 5 minutes while I go and get Ella?" Rachel asked and Daisy nodded

"Okay, I'll be as quick as I can"

Rachel was pleased to see Ella was already there when she got to reception as she didn't want to leave Daisy on her own for too long.

Rachel quickly signed Ella out and then the two of them went back to the car.

"Did you have a good morning love?"

"Yeah it was okay thank you"

"Did anyone say anything about your face?"

"No not really, my friends said it looked sore but I was expecting everyone to say it looked disgusting"

"See I told you it would be fine, you always think it looks a whole lot worse when it's on your own face. When it's on someone elses you hardly take any notice"

"I guess, I still wish I didn't have it though"

They went to the doctors and for once they were actually called through quite quickly.

The doctor gave Ella a prescription for some cream so they went into town to collect it and then Rachel realised she needed some shopping so they went to Tesco.

She left Ella and Daisy in the car while she went in and picked up some bits.

She was only planning on getting a few bits but she ended up coming out with four bags of shopping.

"You were gone ages Rachel"

"I know sorry, but when we were in there I thought we could have a BBQ tonight as soon as the weather's so nice"

"Really?"

"Yep, I've just got burgers and sausages though nothing fancy. I've picked up some cream for you too Daisy"

"What for?"

"It's meant to be soothing and stop you from itching"

Rachel looked at her watch and saw it was nearly time to pick Molly up so they drove to the primary school.

Ella and Daisy waited in the car again while Rachel went into get Molly.

Rachel had been waiting there for a few minutes chatting to some of the other Mum's when she saw Molly coming out of her classroom.

"Hi love have you had a good day?"

"Yes thank you"

Rachel went to take hold of Molly's hand like she normally did however Molly shrugged her off.

Rachel didn't really think anything of it though, she just thought it would be because she was around all of her friends.

When they got home Molly and Ella both went up to their bedrooms to get changed.

"Are you going to take your dress off again love, and I'll put some of that cream on that I just bought"

Daisy took her dress off so Rachel rubbed it in for her.

"How are you feeling now?"

"I don't really feel poorly now, just itchy"

"That's good"

"You're due another lot of medicine so I still think I'll give it to you"

Rachel got the calpol out of the cupboard and gave it to Daisy.

Ella came down a few minutes later with a pair of shorts and a crop top on.

"I'm going in the garden"

"Okay love, I'll be out in a minute too"

Rachel was on her way upstairs to check on Molly when Lauren came in the front door.

"Hiya love, how was your day?"

"Good thanks, I'm glad to be home though I was way too hot at school in my uniform"

The two of them went upstairs and Rachel went into check on Molly.

When she got into Molly's room she saw she was still in her school uniform.

"I thought you were getting changed"

"Yeah I will in a minute"

"Well get changed and then you can go and play in the garden"

"Okay"

Rachel went and sat by her on her bed.

"Are you okay sweetheart? You seem a bit quiet"

"I'm fine"

"Are you sure?"

Molly nodded however then she burst into tears so Rachel wrapped her arm around her.

"I could tell there was something up, you going to tell me what's wrong?"

Molly shook her head.

"Come on love, you know you can tell me anything"

Molly didn't say anything just got up and ran to the bathroom and locked the door.

Rachel sighed before going over to the bathroom door.

Rachel stood there for a good couple of minutes trying to get Molly to come out. It took a while but eventually Molly unlocked the door so Rachel slipped inside.

"Now then, are you going to tell me what's making you so upset?"

"I don't want to"

"Was someone not very nice to you at school?" Rachel asked to which Molly shook her head

"Have you fallen out with Lauren or Ella or Daisy?"

"No"

"Well what is it then? Is it me?"

Molly didn't say anything to this, just looked at the floor.

"Hey come on love, please tell me what I've done. I'd hate to think I'd upset you"

"I had my SATs today but you don't care, you didn't say good luck or ask me how they went or anything. Whenever Lauren or Ella have tests you always ask them about it but you didn't even mention it to me" Molly cried

Rachel felt really guilty when she heard Molly saying this. She had to admit what with everything that had been going on with Daisy and Ella Molly's year 2 SATs had completely slipped her mind.

"Darling I'm so so sorry. I completely forgot but I promise you it's not because I don't care"

"If you cared you would've remembered"

"No it's not like that, I've just had so much on my mind. Not that I'm making excuses because I know I should've remembered. I'm so sorry sweetheart, honestly I am"

"It's okay"

"How did they go?"

"I don't know, some of the questions were quite hard"

"What did you have today?"

"We had a reading one and a mental maths test"

"I'm sure you did really well sweetheart, but no matter what you get I'll still be proud"

Rachel couldn't believe she had forgotten about it. Molly had been quite worked up about it last week, Rachel was shocked about how much pressure they'd been putting on them all when they were still so young.

"Are you going to give me a hug?"

Molly nodded before wrapping her arms around her Mum.

"I really am sorry darling. What have you got tomorrow?"

"Another maths paper"

The two of them stayed cuddled up for a bit longer before Rachel helped Molly to get changed and then they went outside.

Rachel made drinks for everyone before sitting in the sun with Lauren and Ella for a bit.

Rachel took her sunglasses off and looked at the girls and saw they were both looking a bit red.

"Girls I think you need to put some sun cream on"

"No we'll be fine, we haven't been out here for long"

"The last thing you want to do is burn" Rachel said before going inside to get it

She made sure Ella and Lauren both put it on even though neither of them wanted to.

She then put it on Daisy and Molly even though they were playing in the shade.

After an hour or so Rachel went inside and started getting everything ready for the BBQ.

Once it was all prepared she turned the BBQ on.

They all had a nice evening together. Luckily Daisy was feeling lots better and the cream Rachel had bought had stopped her itching so much.

Please review xxxx


	4. Chapter 4

It was the next week and luckily Daisy was over the worst of her chickenpox, although she did still have a few spots left but they'd scabbed over now.

It was a Friday morning and Rachel was in the middle of waking all the girls up.

She went into Ella's bedroom as quietly as she could. Rachel had been up with her quite a lot through the night as Ella had a really bad stomach ache.

When she got in there she saw that Ella was in bed looking extremely tired.

"How's your stomach love?" Rachel asked sitting on the side of her bed

"It still really hurts"

"Do you think you need the day off?"

Ella just nodded her head, there was no way she felt like sitting through lessons with her stomach killing like this.

"Ok, I'll ring Grandma and see if you can look after you"

"No please don't" Ella said tears glassing her eyes "I want to stay with you"

"I've got to go into work sweetheart, Eddie's on a course today so I can't really work from home"

Tears started rolling down Ella's cheeks, she didn't know why but she was just feeling really emotional.

"You can always come and sit in my office for the day I guess, it won't be that comfy though"

"I'd rather do that than go to Grandma's"

"If you're sure, anyway I'll go and get you some more painkillers"

Rachel came back upstairs a minute later with the tablets so Ella took them.

She sat with Ella for a few minutes before going to get Molly dressed. She changed her into her summer dress before going to do the same with Daisy.

About half an hour later Rachel called the girls down for breakfast.

They all came down and sat around the table.

"Rachel please could I have a piece of toast?" Daisy asked

"Coming right up, anyone else for toast?"

"I'll have some please Mum" Lauren said

Lauren had noticed Ella had come downstairs wearing a pair of white shorts and a crop top so was wondering why she wasn't in school uniform.

"How come you're wearing that Ella?"

"I'm not feeling well so I'm staying in Rachel's office today"

"Why aren't you going to your Grandma's or something"

"Because I don't want to" Ella snapped

"I was only asking"

"Sorry I didn't mean to snap" Ella said, she just wasn't in the best of moods

After she'd had a bit of her breakfast Ella put what was left in the bin and then put her bowl in the dishwasher.

It was only then that Rachel realised that what she was wearing was inappropriate for going into school.

"I hardly think that's appropriate for going into school do you missus?"

"I'm only sitting in your office"

"People will still be in and out of my office all day, the shorts are fine but just put a longer top on"

"Fine" Ella sighed before going upstairs

The morning passed as quickly as ever and before long it was time to head to school.

After dropping Daisy and Molly off Rachel drove to Waterloo Road with the older two girls.

They always got to school quite early so luckily none of the pupils had started arriving yet so Ella managed to get to Rachel's office without them seeing her.

Ella laid down on the sofa as her stomach was still hurting quite a lot.

"How's your stomach feeling now love?"

"Its still really hurting"

"I wonder what's caused that then, just take it easy today and hopefully it will get better"

Rachel sat at her desk and got on with a bit of work.

She kept glancing across at Ella, who did look as if she was in quite a bit of pain.

The bell soon went for the start of period two. Rachel waited for a few minutes before deciding to go for a walk around the school.

"I'm just going to go and check everything's okay, I shouldn't be too long. Are you going to be okay here?"

"Yeah I'll be fine"

"Okay see you in a minute then"

Rachel left her office and went for a little walk around school.

Luckily there didn't seem to be many problems however she was surprised when she walked past the cooler and saw her daughter was in there.

Rachel was going to go in and find out why Lauren was in there but she stopped herself knowing her daughter hated having special treatment because she was Rachel's daughter. Not that she ever complained when it occasionally worked in her favour.

Instead Rachel quickly walked past hoping Lauren hadn't seen her.

After dealing with a misbehaving year 8 class who were playing up a supply teacher she made her way back to her office.

When she got back to her office she found Ella sat up clutching her stomach not really knowing what to do with herself.

Rachel went and sat by her and put her hand on her back. Ella leaned into Rachel so Rachel gave her a cuddle for a while.

After a few minutes Rachel went back to her desk and started doing some more paperwork.

"Rach I'm just going to go the toilet" Ella said a while later

"Okay love"

Ella walked out and went to the nearest toilets.

She was shocked when she pulled her knickers down and noticed they were covered in blood.

Ella hadn't been expecting to start now at all, she thought she'd at least be a year older. Ella began to cry as she felt really scared and she didn't like it at all.

After sitting there for a few minutes and having a little cry Ella stood up and pulled her shorts back up.

When she checked she realised her shorts were covered in blood too so there was no way she could walk back through school especially now as the bell had just gone for break time.

Luckily she had her phone in her pocket so she decided it would be best to call Rachel.

Ella phoned Rachel's mobile and luckily she picked up.

"Ella what's up love?"

"I need you" Ella said and Rachel could tell she was crying

"Okay where are you?"

"I'm in the French toilets"

"Okay I'm on my way"

Rachel immediately went to the French toilets.

When she got there there was a bunch of year 10 girls but no sign of Ella.

"Ella are you in here?"

"Yeah" Ella called from one of the cubicles

"Are you going to come out?"

"No I can't with everyone in here"

Rachel then turned to the year 10 girls.

"I'm really sorry girls, would you mind going to some other toilets?"

Luckily the girls didn't put up much fuss and went straight out.

"Ella they've gone now it's just me in here, are you going to come out sweetheart?"

Slowly, Ella unlocked the door and came out.

"What's wrong?" Rachel asked looking at her tearstained face

Ella didn't say anything but just turned around showing Rachel the big red patch on her shorts.

Rachel realised at once that she must've got her period so instantly wrapped her arms around Ella knowing how worried she was probably feeling.

Ella let the tears fall as Rachel tried to comfort her.

"I know how much of a shock this probably is for you, but after a while it won't seem so bad I promise"

"It feels so weird, I don't like it"

"It's a big thing, it's bound to feel strange at first but everything's going to be okay. I've got some pads in my bag but it's probably best we go home so you can get into some clean clothes and freshen up a bit isn't it?"

"But how am I meant to come out of here? Everyone's going to see"

Luckily Rachel had a cardigan on over her dress so she took it off and gave it to Ella to wrap around her waist.

"How come you didn't notice when I got up before?" Ella asked

"I didn't even look up from my desk, I promise I would of said if I'd seen"

The two of them went up to Rachel's office so she could get her bag and then they went out to the car.

Ella was trying to stop crying but she just felt really tearful because she was quite shaken up by it all.

When they got in Rachel took Ella upstairs.

"You go and get some clean knickers love and I'll go and get you some pads"

Rachel went into Lauren's ensuite and got out the pack out of pads that she'd bought for Lauren as they were smaller ones for teenagers.

It was weird that Ella had started before Lauren considering she was two years younger, however Lauren had only just started developing properly and Ella had been quite an early developer.

Rachel took the pads into the bathroom and gave them to Ella.

"You have a shower and get yourself sorted and then we can have a chat"

After her shower Ella gave her dirty stuff to Rachel so that she could get it in the wash and then the two of them went into the front room.

"How are you feeling now?" Rachel asked and Ella just shrugged as tears formed in her eyes

Rachel put her hand onto Ella's leg.

"I understand how you're feeling. I'm glad you've told me though because when I first got my period I wasn't very close with my Mum at all, as you know, so I kept it to myself for ages and it just made me feel worse. I told a few of my friends but I was the first one to start so there was nothing they could really do to help me"

"Did you tell your Mum in the end?"

"No but my Auntie found out when I was staying at her house and she made me feel a lot better about it all"

"How long will it last for?"

"Well they usually last for anything between 3 and 7 days, and eventually you should get them once every month but to start with you won't be able to tell when they're going to come"

"How often do I need to change my pad?"

"Every few hours"

Rachel and Ella chatted for a while and it did make Ella feel quite a bit calmer than she did before.

"Right I suppose we ought to get back to school"

"Rachel can I have some more paracetamol yet?" Ella asked so Rachel looked at her watch

"Yeah is it still really sore?"

"Yeah it hurts so much"

"Okay I'll go and get you some more"

Rachel came back in with them as well as with a hot water bottle.

"What's that for?"

"To put on your stomach, I always find it helps"

"But won't I look a bit weird walking around school with a hot water bottle?"

"I doubt anyone will really see you its lesson time now, but I can put it in my bag when we walk in if you like"

The two of them went back to school and the rest of the day seemed to pass quite quickly.

Lauren came up to Rachel's office so Rachel started packing all her stuff away.

"Why aren't you wearing what you were wearing this morning Ella?"

Ella didn't know what to say so just looked awkwardly at Rachel, she was way too embarrassed for anyone else to find out.

"Ella had soup for lunch and she spilt it all over her white shorts so I took her home to get changed so I could try and get the stain out. Anyway shall we get going?"

The two girls followed Rachel out and into the car.

Rachel drove to Daisy and Molly's primary school. Ella and Lauren waited in the car while she went into get them.

She was waiting in the playground and saw Daisy coming out first, however she was surprised when she was in her PE kit and not her summer dress.

Daisy's teacher came over with her and handed Rachel a carrier bag.

Rachel looked and saw it was Daisy's uniform.

"I'm afraid Daisy got into a bit of trouble at lunchtime, didn't you Daisy?" Daisy's teacher said sounding quite strict

Daisy nodded her head looking at the ground

"What did she do?"

"Her and a couple of the other girls were filling up their water bottles and having a water fight, they ended up getting absolutely soaking which is why Daisy is now in her PE kit"

"Oh right, well surely the lunchtime supervisor must have noticed what they were up to?"

"No they went round the corner knowing that they wouldn't be seen around there"

"Did you say sorry Daisy?" Rachel asked but she wasn't too angry really, after all it was lunchtime and they were only having a bit of fun

"Yes"

"Okay well come on love, let's go and find Molly"

Rachel took hold of Daisy's hand as they walked up to Molly's classroom.

"Rachel am I in trouble?"

"No not with me by the sounds of it you've already been told off at school. It's not like it was during your lessons and you were only having a bit of fun, but don't do it again eh?"

"I won't"

"Good girl" Rachel said smiling, Daisy always had been quite a mischievous little girl

"Rachel guess what"

"What?"

"I don't have any knickers on" Daisy said giggling

"What they didn't give you a spare pair to put on?"

"Apparently they've run out because no-one ever brings them back"

Rachel couldn't believe they'd let a little girl go around with no knickers all day, she'd have thought they'd have rang her to get her to bring some spare clothes in or something.

"Well I've always sent them back in" Rachel said knowing on the few occasions where Daisy or Molly had had an accident at school she'd always made sure she brought them back into school and didn't keep them

Rachel spotted Molly on the playground playing with a couple of her friends so went over to her.

"Hey love have you had a good day"

"Yeah it was really fun, we got to play with the parachute in PE"

"That does sound like fun"

"We had PE today and we didn't get to use the parachute"

"Well we got to use it because we were really good all of last week when Miss Smith was away so it was a treat"

Rachel took hold of both girls hands and walked them back to the car.

"Right up to your rooms and get changed"

"Mum can we get the paddling pool out?"

"How did I know you'd say that?"

"Because its really hot and sunny outside"

"Okay I'll fill it up get into your swimming costumes then"

Ella went out with Rachel and gave her a hand to fill it up. Lauren came down once she'd changed into a bikini and helped too.

Once it was filled up Rachel went and found the swimsuit and put it on Daisy and Molly.

"You two need this on two, don't think you're getting away with it"

Much to Rachel's surprise Lauren just took the sun cream and started putting it on.

"I must be dreaming, Lauren putting on sun cream without a fuss"

"Well you'll only make me anyway"

"Very true"

Once she was done she passed it to Ella.

"Why don't you put your bikini on, else you'll have lines from your shorts and top"

This panicked Ella a little bit as it wasn't as it she could wear a bikini at the minute.

"No I'm fine in this, I can't be bothered to get changed again"

"Less washing for me" Rachel said smiling

Rachel rubbed sun cream into their backs and then the two girls both laid on a sun lounger.

Rachel went upstairs and changed into a pair of shorts and a vest top before joining them with her book.

A little while later Rachel heard a knock at the front door.

She went out to answer it and saw it was Eddie stood there with a bottle of prosecco in his hand.

Rachel stared at him wondering what this was in occasion of.

"What's that for?"

"To celebrate"

"I'm not going to say no to a glass of fizz but what are we celebrating?"

"Have you checked your emails recently?"

"Not since lunchtime why?"

"We've been nominated for most transformed school at that area school awards thing"

"Seriously?"

"Yep"

"Well that's definitely a cause for celebration, come in we're all out in the garden"

Rachel went and got four champagne glasses out of the cupboard, she was feeling in a good mood so decided to let Ella and Lauren have a glass, and then her and Eddie went back out to the garden.

"What's the prosecco for?"

"Apparently Waterloo Road has been nominated for most transformed school"

"Cool, can I have a glass?"

"Luckily for you I'm in a good mood, so yes but just the one"

Eddie popped the bottle open and poured them a glass each.

They sat in the sun and drank it while the two little girls played in the paddling pool.

Molly got out of the paddling pool and ran up to Rachel.

"Mum I really need the toilet"

"Okay, hang on a second let me dry you off a bit"

"But I really need to go"

Rachel dried her off as best as she could before letting Molly go.

"Don't run because your feet will be all slippery"

Molly had been in there for quite a while and still hadn't come back so Rachel decided to go and check she was okay.

She went to the downstairs loo first presuming she'd have gone in there however there was no sign of her so she went upstairs and saw the door was closed.

Rachel went over and knocked on the door.

"Molly are you okay in there love?"

"I've got a bad tummy"

"Oh dear, well just come out when you're done"

Rachel went back downstairs and saw that the girls glasses seemed to be considerably fuller than when she went inside, as was her own glass.

Molly came back outside a few minutes later and went back into the paddling pool.

"How's your tummy now?"

"Better" Molly said as she got back into the paddling pool

The next thing Rachel knew both Ella and Lauren seemed to go extremely giggly.

"I think that bubbly's gone straight to your heads" Rachel said laughing.

Rachel decided to go in and get some nibbles.

She went into the kitchen and found some pringles and some nuts so she brought those out.

It was getting quite late so Rachel realised she should probably get something sorted for tea. She couldn't be bothered to cook though.

"Anyone fancy fish and chips for tea?" Rachel asked

Everyone seemed happy with this idea.

"Do you want to stay Eddie"

"Yeah okay, I'll walk over and get it if you want"

Everyone told Eddie what they wanted so then Rachel and Eddie went inside.

Rachel went into her bag and found her purse to get some money to give to Eddie.

"I don't want it Rach, you feed me all the time" Eddie said

"Yeah well there's five of us there's only one of you"

"Rachel I won't tell you again, I'm getting this" Eddie said before leaving

Rachel smiled to herself before going back into the garden.

"Lets go and get you two out of your swimming costumes"

"Can't we have a bit longer Mum"

"Tea will be here in a minute, and you'll be all cold if you stay in your swimming costume"

Reluctantly Daisy and Molly went inside with Rachel wrapped in towels.

Rachel ran them a really quick bath so they both got in.

They were still in there when Rachel heard Lauren let Eddie in with the fish and chips so she quickly got them out and got them dried.

She'd got them both a little summer dress out each from their wardrobes so she put them on ad then the three of them went downstairs.

Ella and Lauren had laid up the table outside so they all sat outside to eat their tea.

They stayed in the garden for the whole evening as it was really warm.

At about 7 Rachel took Daisy upstairs and put her to bed as she was getting quite tired.

She then came back down to get Molly and took her up.

"Go to the bathroom love, I'll wait for you in you bedroom"

When Molly came in Rachel got her changed into her pyjamas before getting her into bed.

"Mum my tummy's hurting"

"Has it been hurting all night?"

"No it just started again after we ate"

"Well hopefully it will feel better after you've had a good nights sleep"

Molly closed her eyes as Rachel stroked her hair and after a few minues she was fast asleep.

Rachel went and got herself a jumper before going back out to the garden.

"Where's Ella?"

"Toilet" Lauren said "did she skive today?"

"No she really was poorly but I think she's feeling a lot better now"

"What was wrong with her?"

"Stomach ache"

Ella materialised a few minutes later. She sat down on a chair and brought her knees up to her chest.

"You alright love?"

"My stomach's hurting again"

"Oh dear that's not good, I'll fill your hot water bottle up again"

"I've got Michael tomorrow and he's been begging me to let him see you all again, so I was wondering if you fancied coming out with us tomorrow?"

"Where do you want to go?"

"I thought we could maybe take a trip to the beach"

"That sounds good, what do you reckon girls?"

"Yeah I really want to go to the beach" Lauren said

Ella stayed quiet and Rachel realised she was probably a bit worried about what she was going to do with her period and everything.

"We're probably going to leave at about 10"

"Okay well do you want to come round here first and then we can set off together"

"Sounds like a plan" Eddie said smiling

"I think its about time you were going up to bed Ella" Rachel said at about 9:30

Ella wasn't feeling great again so didn't moan like she normally would.

"I'll be up in a few minutes"

Ella went upstairs and got sorted for bed.

When Rachel came up a bit later she was sat up in bed.

"Are you happy to go to the beach tomorrow?"

"I guess so but I won't be able to go in the sea or anything and then everyone will know I'm on my period"

"I know it's a shame, but its just one of those things I'm afraid. And no they won't love, I'm sure they won't even take any notice"

"Lauren will"

"Even if she does it really doesn't matter, Lauren would understand. Do you want me to just tell her to stop you worrying about it?"

"No don't, I don't want anyone else knowing"

"Okay I won't then, but don't worry about it darling we'll still have a good day tomorrow I promise"

"Okay night Rachel, thank you for being there today"

"That's okay sweetheart, its what I'm here for isn't it?"

Ella wrapped her arms around Rachel and gave her a big cuddle.

After staying with her for a few more minutes Rachel went back into the garden and sat with Lauren and Eddie.

When Lauren went up to bed at about 10 Rachel and Eddie went into the lounge and Rachel opened up a bottle of wine.

Eddie stayed until quite late and had to get a taxi home as he'd had too much to drink to drive home.

Rachel went up to bed feeling really happy, the happiest she'd felt in a long time.

Please review xxxx


	5. Chapter 5

It was a Thursday and Rachel was sat at the table trying to catch up on a bit of work however all that she could think about was Ella.

Ella had been out with friends and was meant to have been back by 7:30 but it was now nearly 8.

Rachel had tried calling several times however there was no reply.

The more Rachel was sat there the angrier Rachel was getting. Ella's behaviour over the last few weeks hadn't been good at all, so now she really was pushing her luck.

A few minutes passed and relief flooded through Rachel when she heard the front door close and Ella calling through to say that she was home, as she had been quite worried that maybe something had happened at Ella.

Ella ran past up the stairs but Rachel was quick to get out into the hall and stop her.

"I don't think so young lady, back down here I want a word"

Ella sighed, she really wasn't up for a lecture right now but she also knew she didn't have much of a choice so went back downstairs and followed Rachel into the kitchen.

"Have you got anything to say for yourself?" Rachel asked her expression quite cold

"Sorry for being late"

"To be honest Ella just saying sorry isn't good really good enough, especially not when it doesn't sound as though you mean it"

"I'm not that late only like half an hour"

"Plenty late enough, and this isn't the first time you've been late, it seems to becoming a habit"

"I'm sorry I won't let it happen again" Ella said getting ready to leave

"You're not going anywhere young lady. Your behaviour recently has become unacceptable and to be quite honest with you I'm absolutely sick of it" Rachel said struggling to remain calm "your teachers are constantly telling me about the trouble you're in at school, at home you just want to sit in your bedroom all night and barely speak a word to anyone, you have no respect for me, your moody…" Rachel began and once she started she couldn't stop, however she soon saw the tears starting to form in Ella's eyes

"And don't think turning the tears on is going to get you out of this one. I've had enough of your selfish behaviour and believe me Ella its going to stop. I'm grounding you so that means no ipad, no laptop, no phone and most certainly no going out"

"That's so unfair"

"Well maybe you should have thought about that before you started acting up"

"How long am I grounded for?" Ella asked trying hard to stop crying as she knew it was only making Rachel angrier

"For as long as it takes Ella, as long as it takes"

"Okay, can I go now?"

"Yep you can go up and have a shower and go straight to bed"

"It's only 8"

"I don't care, start acting your age and you can go to bed later"

Ella ran up to her bedroom and slammed her bedroom door shut before jumping onto her bed and crying into her pillow.

She felt so alone at the minute and she had no one to talk to.

Ella hated Rachel being angry with her and she wished she wasn't, but at the minute she couldn't help the way she was being she just felt so confused.

Ella was still crying when she went along the landing into the bathroom. She wished she could talk to Rachel about how she was feeling, but she knew she wouldn't understand and would just get even angrier about the things she'd done.

Even Ella was ashamed of the things she'd done.

Since starting Waterloo Road in September Ella had found it really hard to settle into a year group. Initially Rachel had been really pleased when Ella started going out more to see her friends but now she was realising that she'd got in with the wrong crowd which she wasn't happy about at all. Rachel didn't know who they were as they didn't go to Waterloo Road.

Ella took her clothes off and got into the shower tears still falling freely down her face. She was really starting to regret everything she'd done tonight and the way she'd been treating Rachel.

The more she thought about it there was nothing she wanted to do more than cuddle up with Rachel and for her to tell her everything was going to be okay.

But she knew this wasn't an option, Rachel was angry with her so she didn't feel like she could talk to her.

Ella stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around her body. She wrapped her hair up in a towel too and washed her face.

Once she was done she opened the bathroom door and walked out.

Rachel had just come up the stairs. The two of them looked at each other but didn't say anything so Ella just hurried into her bedroom and closed the door.

Rachel could see Ella had been crying quite a lot so she did start to feel a bit bad however she was still feeling extremely angry. She didn't know what had got into the girl lately, but she certainly planned to get the Ella back that she knew.

It wasn't until Rachel went past Molly's bedroom that she remembered that she was meant to be coming back up to see Molly.

She'd had a bit of trouble getting Molly off to sleep tonight. Rachel had left her and said she would come back up however then she'd got distracted worrying about Ella.

Rachel sighed before going into her daughter's bedroom where luckily she was fast asleep. She went and sat by her daughter who was snoring lightly and stroked her hair.

She stayed there for a few minutes, watching her daughter sleep peacefully was making her feel much more relaxed.

After a few more minutes Rachel went into her bedroom and got changed into her pyjamas, as she still hadn't changed out of her work clothes yet so she wanted to get into something more comfy.

Once she was changed she went back downstairs and watched the TV with Lauren.

She'd been so caught up in everything with Ella and sorting out the little ones that she'd realised she hadn't even asked Lauren how her day had been.

Lauren was sat on the sofa with her knees up to her chest and her arms wrapped around them. She didn't look too happy so Rachel thought that she'd maybe upset her.

Rachel sat a bit closer to Lauren and wrapped her arm around her. Lauren didn't snuggle into her though like she normally she would. She just carried on with her eyes glued to the telly and didn't even acknowledge that Rachel had sat down.

"I'm sorry I haven't had much of a chance to speak to you tonight love"

"Its okay"

"How's your day been?"

"Fine"

"Mel said you went to one of your friends houses after school, who's was it?"

Rachel had a long meeting after school so the kids had all gone back to Mel's until she was home.

"Stop asking me questions, I'm trying to watch this"

It was obvious to Rachel that Lauren wasn't paying attention to the TV whatsoever but she knew not to push her daughter if she didn't want to talk so just left it at that.

"I'm going to get a coffee, is there anything you want?"

"No thank you"

Rachel sighed before going out to the kitchen.

She knew she needed to sort things out with both Ella, but right now she just didn't have the energy. Besides she was still really angry and knew she'd end up just biting Ella's head off which despite what she'd done Rachel really didn't want to do this.

She made her coffee and then went back into the lounge, but when she got in there Lauren wasn't there anymore.

Rachel wondered what was wrong with her eldest daughter, she could tell that she was upset about something.

Once she'd finished her coffee Rachel went up to Lauren's bedroom and knocked on the door.

"Lauren its Mum can I come in?"

"Yep"

Lauren quickly flicked her lamp on and lied down so she could pretend that she was going to sleep.

"Settling down already? It's not even 9 yet"

"I'm really tired"

"Sleep well then my love, I'll see you in the morning"

Rachel kissed her on the forehead before leaving her to go to sleep. She hoped it was just tiredness that was making her not seem her usual self.

When Rachel walked out of Lauren's bedroom she could hear hysterical crying coming from Ella's bedroom so she rushed in.

Seeing the state that Ella was in Rachel did start to soften up a bit, seeing any of the girls upset was one of things that Rachel hated most.

Rachel rushed over to her side and started rubbing Ella's back.

This only made Ella more hysterical as she tried to get her words out and ended up being sick everywhere.

"I-I-I'm sorry" Ella said once she'd been sick

"Its okay I don't think you could help it, I'll run you a bath so you can feel a bit cleaner"

Rachel went into the main bathroom. She wasn't about to start treating Ella how she normally would but she was being considerable calmer with her.

Ella followed Rachel through and sat on the toilet seat sobbing whilst Rachel ran the bath, but neither of them said anything.

Once it was run Rachel left Ella to get in.

She went and stripped Ella's bed before going to put it in the wash. Luckily Rachel had avoided the sick so didn't need to change.

Rachel then went back upstairs.

Ella heard her coming.

"Rachel" Ella shouted so Rachel poked her head around the bathroom door

"Please will you sit with me"

Rachel gave a small nod before closing the lid of the toilet and sitting on it.

Without even thinking Rachel got Ella's hair wet and started massaging shampoo in for her.

It had been quite a while now since Rachel had bathed Ella but at the minute Ella was feeling so small and fragile and it just felt really nice being mothered like this again.

Tears were falling down Ella's face and she couldn't seem to stop them. She hadn't realised just how unhappy she actually was up until now.

"Dry your self off and get into some pyjamas, and then come into my room and we'll have a little chat" Rachel said once she'd finished washing Ella's hair

Rachel left her to get out of the bath and get herself sorted.

She didn't know the best way to handle this now. On one hand she was still incredibly angry with Ella because her behaviour really had been inexcusable but on the other hand she could tell how genuinely upset she was.

Rachel waited on her bed and a few minutes later Ella arrived at the door looking extremely sorry for herself but a lot calmer and she'd managed to stop crying.

"Come in love"

Feeling a bit worried Ella went and sat on the bed next to Rachel but she left a big gap.

Rachel closed the gap and put her arm around Ella.

"Now then I think we need to have a serious chat don't you?"

Ella just nodded her head in reply.

"Rachel I'm really sorry for how I've been I didn't realise how horrible I was being until earlier but I really am sorry for it now. I know how much trouble I must be in"

"Well I'm glad you realise that you were in the wrong, but you're right to think you're in trouble. I'm not going to let you get away with this one"

"I know you can ground me for as long as you like"

"I'll come up with the punishment young lady" Rachel said sounding a bit harsher than she'd actually meant to

"I know sorry"

"But I do still want to talk about why you've been acting the way you have"

Ella shrugged her shoulders not really knowing what to say.

"Well I think it could have something to do with your friends"

"They aren't my friends" Ella mumbled quietly but still loud enough for Rachel to hear

"Since when? Earlier you asked me if you could go out with your friends?"

"I realised tonight that I don't want to be friends with them anymore. I've been doing all the things they've been telling me to do so I can hang around with them and be one of their mates but I've realised I don't want to be near them again" Ella said as she started her crying all over again

"What sort of things did they make you do?"

"I don't want to say"

"Come on love you can tell me, its not going to put you in anymore trouble than you're already in"

"Do you promise?"

"I promise"

"They got me to steal a few things from the corner shop, they made me say horrible things to this old lady, and they're always the ones who make me stay out later than I'm meant to but then tonight they tried to get me to… to smoke"

"And did you?"

"No I nearly did but I really didn't want to so I ran off"

"Well I'm very proud of you for that darling, it must've taken a lot of courage to say no to those bullies"

"They haven't been bullying me"

"Believe me they have, you can tell me what school they go to and I'll be contacting their head teacher"

"No please don't Rachel, I just want to forget all about them"

"They need to be punished for this, they'll only start picking on someone else otherwise"

Ella leaned into Rachel's chest and just cried for a bit.

"How come you started hanging around with these girls in the first place? Surely you must have realised they weren't nice girls before now"

"I just wanted to fit in with someone, all the other girls in my year seem to be in groups but I don't think anyone really likes me"

"That's not true loads of the girls like you, you've been invited to that sleepover at the weekend. But the thing is love there's no point trying to change to fit in, that's only going to make you more unhappy"

"I guess you're right"

"I know its really hard in year 7, but I guarantee you you're not the only one who feels like this. Year 7 is one of the hardest years in terms of trying to fit in, because everything's new"

Ella ended up telling Rachel the girls that had been bullying her and the school they went to, so Rachel intended to get in touch first thing in the morning. But for now she was concentrating on Ella.

"So I still think you need to be punished a little bit for what you've done because quite frankly you've been a living nightmare around the house these past few weeks"

"I'm really sorry"

"I know you are, but you're grounded for a week and you know what means."

"Okay" Ella sighed, but she was quite disappointed about having to miss the sleepover

"But I'll let you go to the sleepover on Saturday"

"Really?"

"Yes really as long as you do some extra jobs before you go to make up for it"

"I will thank you Rachel" Ella said wrapping her arms around Rachel

"But please no repeat performances, I want the Ella back that I know"

"There won't be, don't worry"

"Good, I'm glad to hear it but I think its time you were going to bed, school tomorrow and I want you on your best behaviour"

"Okay night Rachel"

"Night love, I'll be in in a few minutes to say goodnight"

It was a couple of hours later and Rachel was sat up in bed reading when she noticed her bedroom door opening.

She looked up and saw Lauren stood at the door in floods of tears.

"Oh dear not another one in tears"

"Sorry I don't have to come in"

"Don't be ridiculous, come in and sit down I could tell something wasn't right earlier"

Lauren went and jumped into bed beside her Mum.

"Now then what's happened to make you all upset like this hmm?"

"I've done something really really stupid"

"I'm sure it's not that bad"

"No it is I feel awful now"

"Are you going to tell me what it is you've done?"

"But its really embarrassing"

"Hey I'm your Mum I can do embarrassing and just remember I've been your age before too"

"Well today you know I went to my friends house, well it was a boy's house, Luke's"

"Was it just the two of you?"

"Yes"

"Okay so what did you do?"

"I can't say" Lauren said burying her head under the covers

"Yes you can, you know anything you say won't go beyond these four walls. Come on love please tell me"

Lauren popped her head up from under the covers briefly and said "I let him finger me" before going back under again

Rachel was quite shocked by this, she wasn't expecting her daughter to be so involved with boys at this age.

Rachel pulled the covers back and let Lauren rest her head on her chest.

"The way you said that tells me it wasn't what you wanted"

"Not really, but I didn't want him to think I was frigid or not interested and it really hurt"

"Oh love" Rachel said stroking her hair

"I feel so horrible now, I wish I didn't"

"Obviously I could sit hear going on about how it wasn't the right thing to do but its done now and there's no going back. But what I can say is wait until you're ready next time? All these things are all part of growing up but the other part of growing up is realising when you're actually ready to do something and when you're not"

"I will, Mum what if everyone finds out we're not even going out or anything?"

"It depends on who the two of you tell but if it does get out then just tell your friends how you feel about it and ignore what anyone else has to say. It will all be forgotten about in no time"

Rachel felt as though her daughter was growing up too quickly as she held her in her arms, but really her daughter was still quite immature and definitely wasn't ready to have done what she did.

Rachel cuddled Lauren for ages and after a while Lauren did start to feel better. She loved how she could go to her Mum about just about anything, she knew she could trust her with anything.

Rachel went back in with Lauren and tucked her into bed again before going in and going to sleep herself.

The next morning Rachel was woken up quite early by Daisy coming into her room.

It was unusual for any of the girls to wake up before Rachel woke them so Rachel wondered.

She pulled the quilt back and let Daisy climb in beside her for a cuddle.

"Rachel are we going on holiday today?"

"Not today love, that's still not for another week yet"

Rachel was taking the girls on holiday to Majorca next week and they were all really excited about it. She'd asked Mel to come too as she was nervous about taking them away on her own.

"I wish it was today. I got all excited when I woke up because I thought we might be going on the big aeroplane today"

"I'm afraid not, I wish it was though I'd much rather be going to Majorca than into work"

"I don't want to go to school"

"Well not long now and we'll have a whole six weeks off"

"I can't wait"

"Me neither, we'll make sure we have lots of fun"

After everything they'd been through over the last few months Rachel knew it was going to do them all good to get away. At the minute though she was quite stressed trying to get everything sorted.

It was hard having to do everything on her own, even if Dave hadn't been much use when it came to packing he'd still get the suitcases out and little things like that which Rachel missed.

Rachel stayed in bed and talked to Daisy about their holiday for a little while later before eventually getting up and into the shower.

After her shower she went into wake the other girls up.

Much to her surprise Ella was already up too. She was sat in front on her mirror curling her hair.

"You're making a lot of effort for school"

"Well I just felt like it today" Ella said and Rachel smiled before leaving her to it

Rachel felt a lot happier now that Ella was back to her normal self.

Please review xxxx


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

The summer holidays had finally arrived and everyone was really looking forward to having 6 weeks off school.

Despite how Rachel was about this she was also feeling incredibly stressed as they were flying out to Majorca early the next morning and she still had loads to do.

Ella and Lauren had both gone out with friends as they'd only had a half day at school so Rachel picked Daisy and Molly up from school before heading to boots.

Rachel parked up before getting out the car. She was trying to be as quick as she could however the girls were walking slowly behind her chatting both very excited about going on holiday tomorrow.

"Hurry up you two" Rachel said impatiently

Daisy and Molly caught up with Rachel so she took hold of their hands and they walked into boots.

When they got in there Rachel went round and picked up everything she needed. Rachel was glad that she'd written a list as she couldn't seem to think properly at the minute.

Rachel needed to buy quite a lot of things so by the time she'd finished Daisy and Molly were starting to get quite bored so she agreed to let them have a quick look in New Look before they went home.

"Mum please can I get this dress to take on holiday?" Molly asked

"I really don't think you need anymore holiday clothes, I've already bought you loads"

"But it's really pretty"

Rachel had to admit it was really nice so she ended up buying that for Molly and a pretty top for Daisy.

After this the three of them went home.

Daisy and Molly went and put a film on in the play room as it was raining outside, which meant that Rachel could get on with the packing.

She'd done quite a bit but there was still loads more that she needed to do.

She started with her own stuff before moving onto Daisy and Molly's.

When Ella came home she was in absolute chaos.

"I'm home" Ella called as she walked in the front door

"Hiya love, I'm in my bedroom"

Ella ran up the stairs to see Rachel.

"What are we having for tea? I'm starving"

Rachel looked at her watch and saw it was 6 o clock so realised she'd need to get something sorted for tea.

"I've got some burgers in the fridge so I'll just cook them up quickly. How far are you with your packing?"

Ella just gave Rachel a look telling her she hadn't started yet.

"Right well you'd better start now"

Rachel went and got tea started before coming back upstairs.

She came into Ella's bedroom where she was on her bed on her ipad.

"Ella I thought I told you to start packing"

"I have" Ella said pointing to the underwear she'd got out on her bed

"Because that's going to get you really far on holiday, just going to live in your underwear for two weeks are you?"

"Obviously not, I'll do it in a minute we've got all evening"

"You haven't got long and I don't want you going to bed too late tonight. Do you know what I'll just do it myself" Rachel said before opening up Ella's drawers and starting to get things out

Ella could tell Rachel wasn't in a good mood so decided it would be best to carry on with her packing now.

"I'll do it"

"Thank you" Rachel said before walking out

She decided to give Lauren a ring as she thought she'd have been home by now and she really needed her to pack.

When Rachel spoke to Lauren she said she was about 10 minutes away.

By the time Lauren got home Rachel was just getting the burgers out of the oven so she called everyone into the kitchen.

After they'd eaten Rachel cleared up and then took Daisy and Molly up for a bath and got them into their pyjamas before putting them both to bed. They had to leave at 6 the next morning so Rachel hoped they'd go to sleep quickly.

Neither of them were asleep when she left however she didn't have time to make sure they went to sleep as she still had loads to do.

When Rachel went to check on the older girls she was pleased to see Lauren packing and that Ella had basically finished.

Rachel checked Ella had everything and was pleased to see she had just about everything she needed.

"Have you packed your wash bag?"

"No because I still neeed the stuff I'm going to put in"

"Well pack it anyway and then just take the stuff out and put it back in again when you need it, and don't forget to do your hand luggage as well"

By 9 the packing was done so Ella, Molly and Rachel weighed all the suitcases to make sure they weren't over the weight allowance, luckily they weren't.

"Right girls I think it's time you got to bed now too, you need to be up at 5 tomorrow"

"Is there anything else you want us to do Mum?"

"No I'm nearly done now, I just need to get all the passports and print our boarding passes off and then I'm going to bed too"

"Okay, night Mum"

"Night girls"

"Night Rachel"

Rachel went into Daisy's room to check she was asleep as she hadn't actually been back to check yet. She was surprised when Daisy wasn't there but guessed she'd just be going to the loo or something.

Rachel went onto the landing and noticed there was no one in the bathroom so wondered where Daisy was. She then went into Molly's room and found Daisy in there too.

Both of them were asleep on Molly's single bed but Rachel guessed they wouldn't have gone to sleep that early.

Rachel sighed, realising that she was probably going to have two teasy girls tomorrow. She put the quilt back on top of them as it had fallen on the floor before going to finish everything she needed to.

Once Rachel had printed off the boarding passes she decided to give Mel a ring to make sure she was all sorted for tomorrow.

When she rang it was Sophie who picked up.

"Hi Rach"

"Are you all ready for tomorrow?"

"Not really, we're all still packing" Sophie said laughing

Rachel rolled her eyes knowing how disorganised Mel could be.

"Okay I won't ask to speak to your Mum, but just remind her to be here before 6 tomorrow because that's when we're leaving"

"See you tomorrow Rach"

"Bye darling"

Rachel put the phone down and got ready to go to bed.

She couldn't stop going over everything in her head, she was sure she'd forgotten something.

It took her ages to get to sleep and before she knew it her alarm was going off at 4:30 the next morning.

Rachel was so tired but she forced herself out of bed and got straight in the shower.

After getting dressed and drying her hair Rachel went to wake the kids up.

Although it was hard to wake Molly and Daisy up, once they were up they were just really excited to be going away.

Ella and Lauren on the other hand, were in awful moods.

Rachel was pleased when she saw Mel's car pull up on the drive at quarter to six as she was expecting them to be late.

They got the car loaded up before setting off for the airport.

Check-in hadn't even opened when they got there but Rachel would much rather be early than late.

Once check-in opened they checked their bags in before going through security.

"Mummy I don't want to walk through that thing again" Molly said holding tightly to her Mum's hand

"Why not love?"

"Because last time I went through it beeped and I didn't like it"

"It might not beep this time and even if it does I'll be right behind you, I won't leave you. Mel's already gone through, come on love it will be fine"

Molly walked through and was pleased that it didn't beep.

Rachel was last to walk through and did make it beep, she rolled her eyes before joining the queue to be checked.

Once they'd all got through and collected their stuff they went and had some breakfast as no one had had any yet.

After they'd eaten they had a look around the shops and went to the toilets and not long after that their gate was announced.

It was about a 15 minute walk to their gate.

Everyone was getting really excited about leaving rainy England behind and going to the sun now.

"How long before we're getting on the plane Rachel?"

"Not long now"

It was soon time to get on the plane so they got on and found their seats.

Molly wanted to sit with Phil. Ella, Lauren and Sophie all wanted to sit together and then Daisy sat in the middle of Rachel and Mel as she was feeling a bit nervous about going on the plane.

It felt like they'd been waiting a while but eventually the plane made its way to the runway.

Rachel held Daisy's hand while they took off but once they were up in the air Daisy was considerably calmer.

Rachel was hoping Daisy would have a nap but she didn't think there was much chance of this considering they were surrounded by a big group of drunk men going on a stag do.

They were about halfway through the flight when Rachel heard Ella calling her.

Ella was sat just behind Rachel so she turned around to face her.

"Rachel my tummy's really hurting"

"When did that start?"

"About half an hour ago"

Rachel passed her a bottle of water.

"Sip this, and try having a little sleep"

Ella placed her hands on her stomach and tried to go to sleep but she couldn't drop off. She was feeling quite uncomfortable and couldn't wait to land.

Rachel was queueing up with Molly to go to the loo when the seatbelt sign came on as it was nearly time to land.

There were 2 people in front of them so Rachel knew they'd have to go back to their seat.

She hoped Daisy would be able to hold on until they landed.

"We're going to have to go back to our seat love"

"But Rachel I really need to go"

"I know you do, but you're going to have to wait until we're in the airport"

They went back to their seats.

Once they'd landed Rachel got all of their bags down and then they walked off the plane.

She saw a bus so started to feel really worried that Daisy wouldn't make it to the toilet in time.

Daisy had gone really quiet and Rachel could tell how uncomfortable she was feeling.

As soon as the bus stopped they rushed off the bus and went up to find their luggage.

"Mel I'm just going to take Daisy to the loo" Rachel said as Daisy was jigging about

"I'll come too" Ella said

They rushed into the toilet and luckily Daisy made it.

Rachel and Ella came in too.

"How's your stomach feeling now?" Rachel asked once they were out

"It's still quite sore"

"You haven't come on your period have you?" Rachel asked quietly while Daisy was washing her hands as she knew Ella hadn't been on since she first got her period

"No" Ella said her cheeks blushing a bit as she couldn't believe Rachel had mentioned it while they were in the airport toilets

"Well if you do make sure you tell me, I've brought stuff with me in case you do"

"Okay"

Once Daisy had finished washing her hands they went back to Mel and the suitcases had started coming around.

Once they had all of their suitcases they went to the car rental place.

It took a while and by the time they had their keys all of the kids were starting to get bored.

They found their cars before driving to their villa which was near the top of the Island. They got a bit lost on the way so everyone was relieved when they finally got there.

Rachel unlocked the villa and they all started looking around.

Sophie, Lauren and Ella were all really pleased when they saw that one of the rooms was a triple which meant they could all share a room.

Rachel decided it wouldn't be a good idea having Molly and Daisy in the same bedroom as they'd end up messing around together when it was time to go to sleep. So Daisy went in a room with Rachel and Molly went in with Mel and Phil had a room to himself.

All of he rooms had en suites so luckily there was no arguments about that.

After unpacking the kids all got changed into their swimming stuff and put their sun cream on before getting into the pool.

"I'll go to the supermarket and get some food and stuff shall I?" Rachel said

"Do you want me to come too? I'm sure Sophie and Phil will be alright looking after them all"

"No I think I'd worry too much with them being in the pool and everything, I'll be fine on my own"

"Are you sure?"

"Positive"

Rachel came back an hour later with a lot of food.

Mel had her bikini on and was sunbathing by the pool but she came in to help Rachel put it all away.

Nobody'd had any lunch yet so Rachel got out some bits and put them on the table.

She made sure everyone had a drink too as it was boiling and she didn't want anyone ending up dehydrated.

After they'd eaten Rachel went upstairs to put on one of her bikinis too.

She was just rubbing her some cream in when Daisy walked in.

"Hi sweetheart, are you having a good time?"

"Yes it's so nice here"

"I know its lovely isn't it, was there something you wanted?"

"I came in to go for a wee"

"How come you didn't go downstairs"

"Phil's in there and he's taking ages" Daisy said making Rache laugh

Daisy then rushed into their en suite.

Rachel waited until she came out before the two of them went back out by the pool.

Rachel put her towel on one of the sun loungers and started reading her book.

"Mum please will you come in with us?" Molly shouted from the pool

"In a minute, I'm just going to sit here for a bit first"

After all the stress of going away Rachel was pleased to finally be there relaxing with her family.

They had a nice first day by the pool but everyone was quite tired by the evening. So even though they had been planning to have a look around the town in the evening they decided to stay at the villa and go tomorrow instead.

Ella was still sat out by the pool however Lauren and Sophie had come up to have showers.

Sophie went first and then came out with a towel wrapped around her.

"I've got tan lines already look" Sophie said pulling her towel down slightly

"That's not fair Mum made me wear factor 30 so I bet I don't" Lauren said but when she pulled her bikini bottoms down a bit she saw that she did

Lauren didn't know whether to mention this to her cousin or not, but she did want to talk about it with her cousin as she hadn't talked to any of her friends about it as she was feeling really embarrassed about what she did.

"Sophie what's the furthest you've ever gone with a boy?" Lauren asked just coming right out and asking

Sophie was quite shocked by her cousin's question and wondered why she was asking it.

"Why?"

"I'm just wondering"

Sophie opened the door and made sure no one was listening as this wasn't a conversation she wanted to be overheard.

"Well I've had sex with Josh" Sophie told her

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, but you can't tell anyone I haven't told my Mum or anyone so make sure you don't say anything to Rachel"

"I won't I promise"

"Thank you"

"When did you first do it?"

"A few months ago"

"Did it hurt?"

"Yeah it hurt loads the first couple of times"

"Were you scared?"

"Yeah a bit but it felt like the right thing to do with Josh"

"So he didn't make you do it then?"

"No not at all, he kept asking me if I was sure the first time"

"Oh right"

"Why all of these questions though? I'm sure there must be a reason"

"It's just you know Luke"

"Yeah"

"Well he fingered me a couple of weeks ago but I didn't really want it to happen and I didn't like it"

"Did you tell him?"

"Afterwards and he promised we wouldn't do anything again until I'm ready"

"He sounds like a decent boy"

"He is, but we're going out now so I'm worried if we don't do it again soon he'll dump me"

"Well first of all if he did then he clearly isn't worth it, but also the few times I've met him he seems like a really decent boy so I'm sure he'll just be happy to have you"

"I suppose, I'm just worried. Did you like it the first time you did it?"

"If I'm being honest I can't even remember the first time I did it. I was at a party and I was completely out of it. The only reason I know is because my friends saw and told me."

"I haven't told my friends yet"

"How come?"

"I wish I didn't do it, but I think I will tell them when we get back"

"Did you tell your Mum?"

"Yeah I wouldn't stop crying so I didn't have much choice"

Sophie wrapped her arm around Lauren and gave her a hug.

"I can't believe how quickly you're growing up"

Ella walked into the room and Sophie knew Lauren wouldn't want to talk about it with her there so quickly changed the subject.

"Yeah we'll have to get Rachel and Mel to come on the banana boat too"

"Yeah that would be so funny, I'm going to get in the shower now"

"I thought you'd be out by now, that's why I came up" Ella said

"Sorry, do you want to go first?"

"No it's okay"

"I'll be quick"

Lauren went into their en suite to have a shower.

Sophie put her underwear on and then put a dress on before brushing her hair. She loved being on holiday and not having to bother drying her hair or putting any makeup on.

Sophie and Ella chatted until Lauren came out of the shower and then Ella went for a shower.

"I'm going to do downstairs" Sophie said

When Sophie went down Rachel and Mel were sat by the pool with a glass of wine in their hand.

"That's a pretty dress Soph" Rachel said to her niece

"Thanks" Sophie said smiling "I like yours too"

"Do you know where Phil is?"

"He just went in for a shower"

"I forgot my phone charger so I need to borrow his"

"Do you want to use mine?"

"Mine's up in my bedroom if you want it"

"Thanks" Sophie said before running back upstairs

She went into the bedroom where Daisy was stood in her knickers.

"Sorry Daisy, I'm just getting a charger"

"It's okay"

Sophie spotted the charger on the floor by the mirror so she grabbed it.

Daisy put a different dress over her head to the one Rachel had put her in.

Sophie went and plugged her phone in in her bedroom and then went downstairs with Daisy back out by the pool.

"Why did you get changed Dais?" Rachel asked

"The one you put me in was making me itch"

"Oh was it"

"Yes look at my tummy" Daisy said holding up her dress

Daisy was quite different from Molly in the fact that Molly was a lot more self-concious, she would never have done that.

"Hm is it okay now?"

"Yes its not itchy now"

"Do you want a top up Mel?"

"Oh go on then"

Rachel went into the kitchen to get some more wine.

Ella was just coming downstairs when she came in.

"How's your stomach feeling now Els?" Rachel asked

"It's feeling fine now thanks"

"That's good then it might have been the plane then I sometimes get stomach ache when I'm on a plane"

"Where is everyone?" Ella asked

"Sat by the pool"

Rachel topped up their wine glasses before going back out.

"I suppose I ought to get something for tea"

"Why don't we just cook those pizzas?" Mel suggested

"Yeah that's a good idea, I'll go and put the oven on"

"I'll do it"

"No it's alright I'm already up"

Everyone had come down now so Rachel thought it best to move away from the pool, as she knew what the kids could be like and she didn't want anyone getting pushed into the pool when they were all showered.

They sat at the table on the patio.

Mel brought the pizzas out and cut it up.

"I've given you rubbish for tea the last two nights, I'll be making sure you all eat plenty of fruit tomorrow"

"We're on holiday Mum"

After they'd eaten Rachel took Daisy up to bed as she was starting to get quite teasy and Rachel knew this was probably because she was tired.

"I'm just going to nip to the loo" Rachel said

When she came Daisy had her pyjamas on and was already in bed.

"Don't you need to brush your teeth and go for a wee first?"

"But I'm tired"

"I know you are, we don't want any accidents though do we?"

Daisy got out and went to the loo and brushed her teeth before getting back into bed.

"Night night darling, see you in the morning"

"Love you Rachel"

"I love you too sweetheart"

Rachel stayed with her until she was asleep which didn't take long and then went down to get Molly.

Molly got into her pyjamas and went for a wee and cleaned her teeth for bed and then Rachel sat with her for a bit too.

"Mum what are we doing tomorrow?"

"Whatever everyone wants to do really, do you fancy going to the beach maybe?"

"Yeah and can we have ice cream?"

"I would think so love, yes. Anyway time for sleep now"

"Night Mum"

"Night love, see you in the morning love you lots"

"Love you too"

Once Molly was asleep Rachel crept out and went back downstairs.

It was nice to be able to sit outside and it still be really warm and just chat. It was strange to think that this morning they were in the rain and now it was still nearly 30 degrees despite it being 8 o clock at night.

They had a nice couple of hours together however everyone was really tired from having to get up so early and travelling so they had a fairly early night.

Rachel went into her room as quietly as she could as he didn't want to wake Daisy however when she went in there Daisy was awake anyway.

"What are you doing awake?"

"I'm too hot"

"It is very hot in here, why don't you take your pyjamas off and just sleep in your knickers?"

Daisy did this before lying back down again.

Rachel got into her own pyjamas and then went into the bathroom.

When she came out again she saw Daisy had already gone back to sleep.

Rachel got into bed too and it didn't take long for her to be fast asleep too.


	7. Chapter 7

The first few days of the holiday had gone by and they were all having a really good time so far.

They were just going to have a lazy day around the pool at their villa today as they'd been quite late home last night so everyone was going to be tired.

Rachel didn't wake up until 9 which was surprisingly late for her. She glanced across and saw Daisy was still asleep so she quietly got out of bed and went downstairs.

She went into the kitchen to make herself a coffee. When she got in there Sophie was in there getting some breakfast.

"You're up early love" Rachel commented

"Am I?"

"Yeah I'd have thought you'd have slept much later considering what time we got home last night. Are Lauren and Ella still asleep?"

"How am I supposed to know, I've been down here haven't I?"

Rachel picked up immediately on the fact Sophie was in a bit of a bad mood so decided not to say too much more.

Sophie buttered her toast before going and sitting at the table outside.

Rachel took her coffee back upstairs and drank it in bed.

It wasn't long before Daisy woke up.

"Morning sweetheart"

"I'm tired Rachel" Daisy said snuggling into Rachel

"That's because you had a late night last night, why don't you try and go back to sleep for a bit"

"Okay" Daisy said before closing her eyes however it wasn't long before she had to dash out of bed as she realised she was bursting for the loo

"Rachel I don't think I'll be able to go back to sleep now" Daisy said as she walked out of their bathroom

"Shall we get dressed then and then we can go down and have some breakfast"

Daisy got out of her pyjamas and into her swimsuit and then Rachel rubbed her sun cream in.

Rachel grabbed her bikini and went into the bathroom to get changed. She put a pair of shorts and a vest top on over the top and then the two of them went downstairs.

When they got down Phil, Mel and Molly were up too but there was still no sign of Ella and Lauren.

Rachel got some bits out on the table for breakfast.

After they'd eaten Molly and Daisy were dying to get into the pool so Rachel picked up her book and went and sat by the pool while they swam.

At about 11 o'clock Ella and Lauren eventually came down and sat on sun loungers.

"Have you girls got sun cream on?" Rachel asked

"Yes" they both replied

"You'd better not be lying to me"

"We're not" Lauren said

Sophie was being really quiet and not saying much.

After lunch Daisy asked to go to the beach for a few hours. Mel and Rachel both thought this was a good idea so they decided to do it.

"Right we're going to go to the beach in a minute for a few hours"

"I thought we were just staying around here today"

"Well that's what we said but we thought it would be nice to get down to the beach for a bit"

"I want to go to the beach, you get a better tan there" Lauren said

"I don't want to go, can I just stop here"

"Why do you want to stay here?" Mel asked

"Because I don't feel that great"

"Well there's no difference between lying here and lying on the beach"

"I'll just stay around here"

"Not by yourself you won't"

"Why not?"

"Your Mum's right" Rachel said chipping in "it's not a good idea you staying here on your own"

"Fine I'll go pack my bag then" Sophie said with tears filling in her eyes

She felt ridiculous crying just because she wasn't getting her own way, she was just feeling really emotional at the minute.

Rachel was the only one who had noticed the tears forming in her eyes so when Sophie went upstairs to pack her bag Rachel followed her up.

"Is everything okay Soph? You don't seem like your normal self today"

"Yeah I'm fine"

"Are you sure? It looked like you were crying a minute ago"

"Just leave me alone"

Rachel sighed before walking out and leaving her niece to it.

Once everyone was ready they headed off to the beach.

They got a couple of sun loungers and got set up on the beach.

Sophie was lying there and she was actually quite glad that they'd come to the beach because it was a lot nicer sitting here than by the pool. She just wished that the stomach ache she'd woken up with in the morning would go away.

"I'm just going to the loo. Molly, Daisy do you need to go?"

They both said that they didn't.

"I'll come with you Rach, I need to go"

The two of them started walking along the beach.

"Rach"

"Yes love"

"I'm sorry for being so stroppy with you earlier"

"That's okay love, were you just tired?"

"Yeah I think so"

"Are you still not feeling great?"

"Not really, I've got a really bad stomach ache"

"Oh dear that's not good"

The two of them got to the toilets and went in.

When Sophie sat down she saw that her bikini bottoms were covered in blood.

She was so annoyed she'd come on in the middle of their holiday, especially when she was only last on a couple of weeks ago.

Sophie really didn't know what to do as she didn't have any pads with her and she was so worried she would leak onto her shorts.

After a few minutes Sophie realised Rachel would be wondering what she was doing so shoved some toilet roll in her bikini bottoms and then unlocked the door and came out.

Rachel noticed she was looking quite worried.

"Everything okay darling?"

"Yeah fine" Sophie said giving a weak smile

"Let's head back then"

When they got back Sophie laid down on her towel on the beach.

She took her top off but not her shorts.

"How come you've still got your shorts on Sophie?" Ella asked

"Just because I have"

"Do you want to come in the sea with me and Lauren? We waited until you came back"

"No I'm fine here thanks"

Lauren and Ella went into the sea. Sophie sighed wishing she could do the same.

Mel had fallen asleep on a sun lounger and everyone else except from Rachel and Sophie were in the sea.

"I think I'm going to go for a swim, do you fancy coming in too?"

"I might paddle"

"Why don't you want to swim?" Rachel asked thinking she was behaving a little oddly

"I just don't want to"

The two of them stood up and walked to the sea.

Sophie was walking slightly ahead of Rachel and when Rachel glanced down she noticed a big red patch on Sophie's shorts.

Suddenly it clicked why Sophie was acting the way she was.

Rachel put her arm around Sophie's waist to stop her walking.

"I think we need to nip to the loo love"

Sophie looked at her questioningly but didn't say anything.

"I'm just going to the loo with Sophie" Rachel shouted before quickly picking up her beach bag

They started walking to the toilets and once they were out of earshot of the others Rachel said "are you on your period love?"

"How did you know?"

"I think you've leaked through to your shorts"

"Oh my God seriously, walk behind me so no-one else sees. What am I going to do?"

"I've got some tampons in my bag and a there's a pair of Lauren's bikini bottoms in there too for some reason so you can wear them if you like"

"Okay thanks" Sophie said but actually she was a bit worried because she'd never used a tampon before

When they got to the toilets Rachel handed them to her so Sophie went into the cubicle.

She had a go at putting it in but she couldn't so she went out again.

"All sorted?" Rachel asked

Sophie shook her head

"I don't know how to get the tampon in" Sophie admitted feeling quite embarrassed

"Okay sweetheart I just presumed you'd have used one before"

"I've never really had the need to"

Rachel explained to her how to do it and gave her another tampon and this time she managed to do it.

"Rachel have you got anymore I can have?"

"Well I've brought a box of tampax with me but I'm due on in a few days as well. I think your Mum's going to go shopping on the way home, so ask her to pick you up some"

"No I don't want to, can't you buy me some?"

"I can, but why can't you just ask your Mum?"

"I hate speaking to Mum about things like that, she always makes such a big deal out of it"

"I'll tell your Mum I'll go shopping then" Rachel said stroking her arm supportively

They spent another few hours on the beach before deciding to start going.

Rachel got Daisy and Molly out of their wet swimming costumes and into dry clothes.

Once everyone was sorted they made their way back to the cars.

"We'll see you back at the villa then"

Rachel headed to the nearest supermarket with the girls and they all went in with her.

They'd nearly picked up everything they needed.

Daisy was absolutely bursting for the loo. She was going to wait until they got back to the villa to go but she couldn't wait any longer so she decided to tell Rachel.

She was just about to tell Rachel when she felt her knickers and shorts turn all wet. Daisy felt so embarrassed, she couldn't believe she'd just wet herself. That hadn't happened to her during in the day in a really long time.

"Rachel I need to tell you something"

"What is it?"

"I don't want anyone else to know"

Rachel took hold of Daisy's hand and walked to the end of the aisle with her

"I've had an accident"

"What kind of accident?"

"I've wet myself" Daisy said really quietly "I'm really sorry Rachel"

"It's okay love, I know you didn't mean to do it. Come on let's go and get you sorted"

Rachel took Daisy to the toilets and got her sorted and then went back to finish doing the shopping.

After they'd paid they drove back to the villa.

Rachel took the shopping in and Mel helped her to unpack it.

Mel didn't question the box of tampax, she just presumed it was for Rachel.

Rachel carried it upstairs and gave it to Sophie.

"Thanks Rach"

"It's no problem darling, I bought you some pads as well, probably best you use them at night"

"Okay"

"Anyway I'll leave you to it"

Rachel went and bathed Daisy and Lauren and then to have a shower herself.

After her shower she put a loose summer dress on before going downstairs to sort out some washing.

She put it all into piles and then took them into everyone's rooms.

Rachel had just seen Ella and Sophie downstairs and hadn't realised Lauren wasn't with them, so she didn't bother knocking on the door before walking in.

When she did walk in she found Lauren stood in front of the mirror in her bra and knickers and it looked as though she was stuffing her bra with tissue.

"Mum why did you just walk in, get out I'm getting changed" Lauren screamed

"Sorry love" Rachel said before walking out and closing the door behind her

Lauren quickly finished stuffing the tissue into her bra and then put a dress on before saying it was okay for Rachel to come in.

Rachel walked into their bedroom and put the clothes on one of their beds before closing the door.

She looked at her daughter and realised she must have stuffed her bra as her chest was looking bigger than normal.

"Do you want to come and sit down a second love"

Lauren sat down next to her Mum.

"Now then I don't think there's any need for this is there?" Rachel said reaching down her daughter's top and pulling out the tissue

This just caused Lauren to burst into tears

"Oh sweetheart come here" Rachel said pulling Lauren into her chest and letting her have a cry

"Why do I have to have such a horrible figure Mum? Ella and Sophie always look really nice and I just look like a boy" Lauren cried

"You don't have a horrible figure love, you're beautiful"

"No I'm not I'm still really flat chested, even Ella has bigger boobs than me and she's two years younger"

"I know Ella's developing a bit quicker than you are which must be hard when you're at the age you are, but you are still developing love honestly you are"

"I know but why so slowly"

"Everyone develops at different rates, and before you know it you'll probably be moaning your boobs are too big"

"I doubt it" Lauren said but she was smiling a bit now

"Are you okay now?" Rachel asked and Lauren nodded

"I'll leave you to finish getting ready then"

Rachel left Lauren to it and went down the stairs.

She got down there and opened a bottle of wine and poured herself a glass.

Rachel was about to go outside with her glass of wine when Sophie came into the kitchen.

"Rach please can I have a glass?"

"You'll have to ask your Mum"

"She's in the shower, she won't mind me having one glass"

"Okay I'll get you a small glass"

Rachel rolled her eyes before getting a glass out of the cupboard and pouring some wine into it for Sophie.

"There you go"

"Thanks Rach, you're the best"

Rachel and Sophie went outside and joined Daisy and Molly who were playing in the garden.

A short while later they were joined by Mel.

"Who gave you that young lady" Mel asked referring to the glass of wine in her daughter's hand

"Rachel said I could have a glass"

"Only a small one"

"Do you want a glass Mum?"

"That would be very nice"

Sophie went out to the kitchen and got her Mum a glass of wine, while she was in there she topped her own up.

Once Rachel had finished her glass of wine she decided to get on with tea so she went out to the kitchen. Sophie joined her.

"Do you want some help with tea?"

"That would be very nice of you"

Sophie sneakily got herself another glass of wine while she was out there, without Rachel noticing by some miracle.

While they were cooking Rachel noticed that Sophie was getting a bit tipsy, she couldn't get her to shut up!

She glanced over and saw that Sophie had a full wine glass again.

"How much wine have you been drinking?"

"Not much"

"How many glasses?"

"That's my second, I got another one when I topped yours up" Sophie lied

"Right, well no more after that one"

The two of them made a spaghetti bolognase and then served it up for everyone.

After finishing her next glass of wine Sophie seemed to get even worse and seemed really drunk now.

All the kids were finding Sophie hilarious. She was dancing and falling about all over the place but still she was drinking more whenever Rachel and Mel weren't looking.

"Sophie, Josh is trying to facetime you"

Sophie rushed inside to speak to her boyfriend. She came outside about 20 minutes later.

"Was Josh alright?" Mel asked

"Yeah fine"

"How are things between you and Josh?" Rachel asked "You seem to really like him"

"Yeah I love him"

"Really Soph? I never knew you were that serious" Mel said rolling her eyes at her daughter

"Of course we're serious, we've had sex and everything" Sophie blurted out

Rachel could tell by the look on Mel's face it was the first she'd heard of this.

Lauren felt a bit sorry for Sophie now, she knew she'd regret saying that in the morning.

Mel didn't know what to say, so Rachel decided to step in.

"Sophie Ryan, I think it's high time you went up to bed"

"What Daisy's only just gone to bed"

"Trust me Sophie that's exactly where you need to be too, now come on let's go up"

Rachel guided her niece upstairs and found her pyjamas under her pillow.

"Put your pyjamas on" Rachel said "I'm going to go downstairs and get you a glass of water"

Sophie took her clothes off and then ran downstairs to where everyone was sat wearing only her underwear.

The girls all burst out laughing. Phil didn't know where to look. Mel was just shocked at what a state her daughter had got into.

When Rachel was in the kitchen she saw Sophie running out in just her underwear so went out to get her.

"Sophie what do you think you're doing? You don't walk around in just your bra and knickers do you?"

"Oops" Sophie said giggling.

Rachel took Sophie back upstairs.

Eventually Rachel got Sophie into her pyjamas and into bed and made her drink lots of water.

"Night Rachel" Sophie said giving her Auntie a kiss on the cheek

"Goodnight sweetheart"

Rachel got the rest of the girls to bed too and by the time she went back down it was just Mel sat outside.

"You okay?" Rachel asked her sister

"I guess, I had no idea about Sophie though. I wish she felt she could've talked to me about it"

"Well these things are hardly the things you want to talk about with your Mum are they? I know I certainly didn't and I don't think you did either"

"I know, but I thought I was different to Mum"

"Well I think she feels you make a big deal out of these things"

"What makes you say that?"

"Because she told me that's how she feels"

"When?"

"Today. She came on her period and I found out and gave her a tampon but then she wouldn't ask you to buy her anymore"

"I thought they were for you"

Rachel just shook her head.

"Oh Rach what am I going to do?"

"Talk to her tomorrow, be calm about it all and just try and gain her trust"

"Rach how are you so good at all of this? You've always been more of a Mum to Sophie than me, she's so much more comfortable with you"

"Well you know when she was younger she did spend a lot of time with me didn't she?"

"I know it's all my fault"

"That's not what I was saying"

"I know, anyway I'm going to go up to bed now"

"Me too, I'm absolutely knackered"

The two women locked up before going up to bed.

The next morning Sophie woke up feeling quite sick. She didn't really want to move anywhere but she was desperate for the loo.

After going to the loo she climbed back into bed.

When she did she saw Lauren was awake too.

"Did you have fun last night?" Lauren asked

"It all seems like a bit of a blur to be honest"

"Do you remember running outside in your underwear?"

"I ran outside in my underwear?"

"Yep, and you told everyone you've had sex"

"You're not serious"

"I am"

"Oh god" Lauren said turning over and burying her head into her pillow

"Was my Mum mad?"

"I think she was shocked, she didn't say much though really. Rachel took you up to bed after you said it"

"I can't believe I drank so much"

"Me neither, you kept trying to drink when no-one was looking"

"I need to go and get some water, my heads killing"

Sophie went downstairs.

When she walked down and saw Rachel was in the kitchen she nearly turned around and went back upstairs again but she knew she was going to have to face them all at some point.

"Morning, how's the head today?"

"Sore"

"I thought it would be" Rachel said laughing

"Are you not angry with me?"

"That's not really my job, I wouldn't blame your Mum for being angry though I certainly would be if you were my daughter"

Sophie got herself some water and then sat down next to Rachel.

"But the thing is Soph, I think your Mum's more upset than angry"

"Why?"

"Because you didn't tell her you've been sleeping with Josh"

"I don't have to tell her everything"

"I know but she thinks you feel like you can't tell her anything"

"It's not like that, there's some things I just feel really uncomfortable talking to her about though"

"I know sometimes your Mum is the last person you want to talk to about these things, believe me I've been there, but actually sometimes your Mum is the best person you can talk to about these things"

"I know and I wish I could. You're dead close with Lauren and Ella, I know they'd talk to you about anything but it's just different with Mum"

"Well you know I'm always here for you to talk too, but I really do think you should try and talk about this with your Mum too"

"I will"

"You're happy about sleeping with Josh aren't you? I mean he's not pressuring you into doing anything?"

"No not at all, we talked about it before and it was what we both wanted. Do you think I'm too young?"

"Not really, I'm glad you lost your virginity to someone you're in a relationship with rather than on a one night stand at some party. For me losing it to someone you care about and who cares about you is the most important thing"

"I know"

The two talked for a bit longer until Mel came down. Rachel decided to leave the two of them two it so went back upstairs.

Rachel decided to have a shower to freshen up a bit so went into the ensuite and climbed into the shower and let the warm water pour down her body.

She'd only been in there for a couple of minutes when she saw the door open and Daisy walk in.

Daisy rushed over to the loo because she was bursting.

"Sorry Rachel"

"That's okay" Rachel sighed, she never did seem to get much privacy even if she was in the shower

Daisy went out so when she did Rachel turned the shower off and wrapped a towel around her body.

She brushed her teeth and dried off before putting her bikini on and going back into the bedroom.

"What are we doing today Rachel?" Daisy asked

"I think we're going to go to the market today and then we can either go to the beach or come back to the pool"

"Can we go to the beach and go on one of those boats with the slide on?"

"I don't see why not, you need to get dressed though because we need to be on quite early for the market"

Rachel got Daisy dressed and then Molly before going back downstairs.

When she walked down she saw Mel and Sophie having a cuddle so she was glad the two of them had made up.

"Sophie do you know if Ella and Lauren are awake?"

"Lauren was awake when I came down but Ella was still sleeping"

"Can you get them both up then please, we need to leave in half an hour to go the market"

"Yeah okay, is that what we're doing today"

"Yes that's what we decided last night, obviously you don't remember" Rachel smiled

"I think there's a lot about last night that I don't remember"

"I reckon there probably is, I doubt your cousins will ever let you forget about some of the things you did"

"Great" Sophie said laughing

They had another lovely day in Majorca, all of them really enjoying the holiday"

Please review xxxx


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